Many small business owners don’t realise just how much reducing their office water usage can help the environment. Let’s imagine that you run a small company. You don’t use significant amounts of water during everyday work processes, so you shouldn’t have to worry about wasting too much precious life juice, right?
Wrong!
Once you’ve finished reading this article, you might be amazed by just how much water you can save in the office, regardless of the type of business you run. And water saving is becoming increasingly valuable, especially when Australia’s regular droughts and severe water shortages are taken into account.
Here are a few of the easiest ways to reduce water usage in your office:
Ensure Your Plumbing Is Properly Maintained
Even a small drip can lead to huge volumes of wasted water every year and that you need plumbing service immediately. Let’s look at a little example:
If a tap drips 20 times per minute, you will be wasting approximately 600mL per hour. Multiply this by 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and a slowly dripping tap will be wasting over 5250 litres per year.
That’s right, even a slow drip will waste over 5 cubic meters of water per year! I’m sure you don’t need me to tell you how important it is to get these fixed.
Install Water-Saving Toilets
We can do a similar calculation when it comes to toilets. Older-style toilets use up to 10 litres of water per flush. Newer water-efficient models often use less than half of this, and they tend to work better as well. Since office bathrooms usually get a lot of traffic, it shouldn’t take a genius to see that reducing toilet water usage can lead to huge water savings.
Water Less Often
If your offices include an outside area with gardens or lawns, you can save a lot of water by: (1) designing your outdoor spaces cleverly and (2) reducing how often you water your green areas.
If you’re smart about the way you plan your office gardens, you won’t have to water very often at all. For example, you could plant native wildflowers and shrubs that are more drought-tolerant and suited to your local soils.
Sweep Paths Instead of Washing Them
It’s amazing how often I see business owners outside hosing down their paths and verandas with a pressure cleaner or simple garden hose when all they need to do is sweep. This uses a lot of water, and it’s simply not necessary. Next time you consider getting out and hosing your business down, reconsider and think about grabbing a broom instead.
Final Word
All things considered, it’s actually surprisingly easy to reduce your office water usage – even if you don’t actively use water during daily business operations. Make sure your plumbing is well maintained, consider installing water-saving toilets and other fittings, think carefully about your outdoor spaces, and don’t wash paths and verandas unnecessarily. There are numerous other things you can do to create a greener office space, so don’t hesitate to do some research into other popular water-saving actions.
