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Workplace Self-Assessment Checklist
| | Workplace audits help identify where is wasted and where water can most effectively be conserved. |
What efforts has your facility already made in water efficiency? Several questions for facility managers are listed below to help gauge a facility’s present water efficiency performance.
Top Management Commitment and Resources
- Is water efficiency included in the company’s environmental policy statement?
- Are water efficiency responsibilities delegated?
- Are quantitative goals established and tracked?
- How are water efficiency goals communicated to employees?
- What incentives and feedback loops exist for employee participation, suggestions and increased awareness?
- Has your facility taken advantage of available help and resources from your utilities, assistance programs, vendors or consultants?
Water Efficiency Survey
- Do you know the actual breakdown of your water uses: cooling and heating, domestic uses, process rinsing, cleaning activities, kitchens, laundries, landscaping, water treatment regeneration, evaporation, leaks and others?
- Do you know your life cycle water costs for supply water, wastewater treatment, sewer/discharge and heat and mechanical energy losses?
- Are you doing simple things such as leak inspections, eliminating unnecessary uses and using timers? Are these practices institutionalized?
Identifying Opportunities - Target Areas for Water Reduction
RESTROOMS
- Are code-conforming 1.6 gpf commodes, 0.5 to 1.0 gpm faucet aerators and low-flow 1.5 to 2.5 gpm showerheads in use?
HEATING/COOLING
- Has once-through cooling water used in air conditioners, air compressors, vacuum pumps, etc., been eliminated with the use of chillers, cooling towers or air-cooled equipment?
Have blow-down/bleed-off controls on boilers and cooling towers been optimized?
Is condensate being reused?
PROCESS RINSING AND CLEANING
- Have you considered improved rinsing techniques such as counter-current systems, sequential use from high-quality to lower-quality needs, conductivity flow controls, improved spray nozzles/pressure rinsing, fog rinsing or agitated rinsing?
- Is water turned off when not in use by flow timers, limit switches or manually?
- Is the life of an aqueous bath being maximized via filtration and maintenance control?
- Are “dry clean-up” practices used instead of hosing down, and is first-pass precleaning conducted with squeegees, brushes or brooms?
ON-SITE WATER REUSE
- Is water quality matched with water quantity?
Have reuse applications been examined for process water, landscaping irrigation, ornamental ponds, flush water and cooling towers? LANDSCAPING
- Are low-flow sprinklers, trickle/drip irrigation, optimized watering schedules and water placement, preventive maintenance and xeriscaping techniques in place?
KITCHENS
- Are “electric eye” sensors for conveyer dishwashers installed?
- Have new water- and energy-efficient dishwashers been examined?
Water-efficiency Action Plan
- Have you performed a cost analysis on water-efficiency opportunities?
- Do you have a prioritized implementation schedule?
Are water users informed of the changes and communication channels open for feedback?
Tracking and Communicating Results
- Do you post monthly water usage rates for employees and management?
Are your water-efficiency achievements being recognized in case study articles, media coverage, mentoring to other businesses, business environmental exchange programs or award programs?
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| Last Updated: 7/11/2012 2:35:48 PM |
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