News
A water audit by H²0 Building Services results in a saving of 50% in water consumption
Author: Graham Mann, Water Audit Expert.
The owners of WEM Industrial Estate which covers 55 acres accommodating 70 industrial business units ranging from manufacturing, auto repairs, engineering, storage and distribution companies. The site owners contacted H²O Building Services and requested a water audit in order to determine whether the water costs for the site were correctly levied by the water company and if there was an opportunity to reduce the existing water and waste water cost.
As with all initial desktop water audits copies of the last 12 months water and waste water bills were requested from the client together with a site plan and a list of the companies on the site and brief description as to water use in each unit. Within 10 days an initial water audit report was produced indicating potential savings of 50%, it was obvious that there was an unaccounted water loss, more likely underground water leaks as each industrial unit had a sub-meter fitted for tenant water billing purposes.
H²O water consultants gathered the sub-meter and water company incoming revenue meter data and the difference was 50%. clearly demonstrating the incoming water meters were recording twice as much water consumption than the cumulative total of the sub-meters and therefore when the Landlord / Managing Agents are billing the tenants there is a 50% shortfall in income which could not be sustained.
A decision was made to carry out a full in-depth site survey, upon completion a written report was generated containing specific areas of savings, action required to achieve those savings, specification of works, cost to complete the works and payback.
During the survey an AMR online data logging device was discovered fitted to the 2 main incoming water meters, this provided invaluable night line flow data as the snap shot below of the visual flow profile indicates a 2.11m3 per hour average continuous flow equating to a water leak of 18,483 cubic metres at a cost of £ 48,000.
On the basis of the AMR flow data water leak detection was carried out across the site, various large water leaks were detected and repaired, the water supply pipes were not in a very good overall condition, it was then decided to replace all of the underground water supply pipes and we now have a ZERO night-line.
H²O water consultants will not be negotiating a leakage refund due to the water that was leaked into the ground and not in to the water company sewer and therefore a claim will be submitted for a refund of all sewerage charges levied and paid on the calculated amount of water not returned to sewer.
Senior Water Consultant Graham Mann said ” Apparently there has been suspected water leaks for years on this site, the client was unaware that the water company had installed an AMR device on each incoming water meter and when I spoke to the water company in order to access the flow data the staff were aware of the high night-line but never took any proactive action to inform the customer and give them a solution. This I find astonishing, needless to say that our team will be submitting a claim for 100% of the water and waste water charges levied and paid that can be3 proven as leakage over the period since the AMR was installed which on initial calculations will be in excess of £ 100,000, watch this space as I will be reporting back with the completed results achieved.”