Water Management

 
  • Rainwater harvesting Leicester North
  • Rainwater Harvesting Leicester North
  • Rainwater harvesting Leicester North
  • Rainwater Harvesting Leicester North
  • Rainwater harvesting Leicester North
  • Rainwater Harvesting Leicester North
  • Rainwater harvesting Leicester North
  • Rainwater Harvesting Leicester North
  • Rainwater harvesting Leicester North
  • Rainwater Harvesting Leicester North
  • Rainwater harvesting Leicester North
  • Rainwater Harvesting Leicester North
  • Rainwater harvesting Leicester North
  • Rainwater Harvesting Leicester North

Zero Carbon Engineering has experience in helping both retailers and FMCG companies reduce both water and effluent costs. 

Water is both expensive (c £1/m3) and its disposal to drain can be expensive (c 15p/m3) for conveyance plus charges for primary treatment, biological treatment and treatment of solids as at February 2018.  From a carbon viewpoint, water supply represents 0.344 kg CO2e/m3 and effluent represents 0.708 kg CO2e/m3.

When considering making savings in water, firstly it is worth considering getting an automatic meter reader fitted at the water companies meter, so it is possible to remotely monitor consumption at the site boundary.  After that it is worth comparing water consumption at meters as they enter each building on a site. This makes it possible to do a mass balance of what enters a site and what enters each building. The difference is leakage underground on the site – on older sites it is not uncommon to find significant but unnoticed leaks.

A significant risk that needs managing when working with water is bacterial growth, and where water becomes an aerosol – legionella.  Water must be kept below 20⁰C or above 60⁰C – as most bacteria only grow significantly between these temperatures. It is important to avoid water becoming aerosol sprays unless it’s completely necessary – and if so it must be risk assessed.  

To save water, it is worth looking at optimising water consumption by for example: -

  • Fitting low flush toilet cisterns or installing “cistern-misers”.
  • Fitting waterless urinals.
  • Percussion taps, or sensor taps that turn themselves off after a defined time.
  • Looking to see if it is practicable to install rain water or grey water harvesting for things where water quality isn’t important and there is no risk of the water becoming an air-born aerosol. This can be used for things such as toilet flushing and water for washing (e.g. car washing, tray washing) if properly chemically treated.
  • For condensers on large fridge plant, new hybrid evaporative equipment is now available that makes no use of water during winter, and overall minimal use of water through the year. Traditional Forced Draught or Evaporative condensers also present a significant risk in terms of legionella management. The new hybrid evaporative don’t use water sprays in the same way and as such present a much lower risk.