10 BMPs for Water Conservation

1. Water Management Planning—Begins with development of a comprehensive water management plan (WMP) that illustrates how a facility uses water (from entry to exit) and establishes prioritized long- and short-term goals for projects designed to reduce water use and waste.  EPA’s WMPs also include project costs, potential water savings, potential energy savings, potential utility costs savings, and potential payback in years.

2. Information Sharing and Education—Keep everyone advised of and, if possible, involved in new operational procedures, retrofits, and replaced equipment, and other project information to ensure they understand their purpose and how to use them properly to conserve water. Federal facilities also share successes online, in newsletters, and at conferences and other public forums to help educate others.

3. Distribution Systems Audits, Leak Detection, and Repair—According to the EPA, older buildings can lose as much as 10 percent or more of their total water production and purchases to leaks and/or poor metering practices. To counter this, staff should be trained to report leaks and equipment malfunctions to the facility manager who should promptly proceed with repairs. All work orders should be tracked from start to finish. In addition, many EPA facilities have completed screening level system reviews to establish the percentage of water consumption accounted for, which can help assess the presence of leaks and other water waste issues.

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4. &  5. Water-Efficient Landscaping and Irrigation—Using native and “climate appropriate” landscaping practices can reduce the need for water by 50 percent. Reduced use of turf and other irrigated areas can also reduce time, money, energy, and emissions/discharges related to mowing, fertilizers and pesticides, waste removal, and other maintenance. When irrigating, consider water waste due to evaporation, wind, poor management, and/or design, installation, and maintenance.

6. &  7. Toilets/Urinals and Faucets/Showerheads—Toilets and urinals alone can account for almost one-third of building water consumption and should be replaced with new fixtures (manufactured after 1/1/1997). Faucets/showerheads that do not meet current standards (use no more than 2.2 and 2.5 gallons per minute respectively) should also be considered as well as metering faucets that dispense only a predetermined amount of water or dispense for a predetermined period of time. Maintaining optimum water pressure for system performance should also be assessed.

8. Boiler/Steam Systems—Water consumption varies depending on system size, amount of steam used, and amount of condensate returned. Boiler systems should be monitored to prevent corrosion and optimize steam condensate reuse. Periodic testing and treatment of quality parameters such as chlorides, hardness, pH, conductivity, alkalinity, and biological growth should be performed.

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9. Single-Pass Cooling Systems—Equipment like air conditioners, CAT scanners, condensers, air compressors, and ice machines can use 40 times more water than a cooling tower operating at five cycles of concentration.  The EPA recommends modifying single-pass cooling equipment to recirculate water or eliminate the equipment all together.

10. Cooling Tower Systems—By closely monitoring and controlling the quantity of blowdown water (water released from the tower to maintain proper water mineral concentration), facilities can reduce water waste. Procedures include regular quality, performance, and water chemistry reviews of water tower operations.

These are just 10 of the 14 BMPs the EPA advocates for use in its own facilities. More information about BMPs, how well they are working at the EPA, and other innovative water saving steps is available at http://www.epa.gov/oaintrnt/water/best_practices.htm.

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