Similarly, if the existing building is in an urban core or downtown environment where the building occupies the entire site, “you are then dealing with collecting the stormwater from the roof of the building and have to deal with inserting the water storage, filtration, pumping, etc., within the existing building. That is challenging without a major renovation,” he notes.
However, if the site is more suburban, there is often more site area to collect water from parking and direct it into ponds that can be used for irrigation later.
Making the Change
American Standard’s FloWise Flush-Free Waterless Urinals last 15,000 cycles before maintenance is required, resulting in cost savings for the facility in labor hours, besides the obvious water savings. PHOTO: American Standard
From a building owner’s perspective, it’s important to remember water is a precious commodity and, sooner or later, the issue of water efficiency must be addressed—from the infrastructure and operations side, as well as from a behavioral standpoint.
“From an owner-operator standpoint, water’s not going to get any cheaper,” Ruck says. He advises building owners and operators to pay attention to what’s happening in drought-stricken areas, such as California or New Mexico, where they’re already dealing with this head-on and learn from their example.
Mason concludes, ultimately, realizing water efficiency will come down to education and shifting people’s thinking, not just relying on technology to do the job for us.
“Changing human behavior is going to be a big one. It’s evaluating how we use water,” he says. “People get accustomed to using things a certain way and we need to change that. Education is thinking about paradigm shifts. It’s not going to be necessarily technology solving everything—human behavior needs to have a role in conservation, For more resources and tools to better understand your building’s water usage, as well as additional strategies for improving water efficiency, be sure to visit the following organizations’ websites:
EPA’S WATER EFFICIENCY STRATEGIES
ENVIRONMENTAL DEFENSE FUND WATER EFFICIENCY TOOLKIT
GEMI SOLUTION TOOLS MATRIX
GLOBAL WATER TOOL
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