Water Audit – Understand your hotel's water use and save money
Carrying out a water audit will show where the major water use is coming from and where savings can be made across areas within your hotel.
Carrying out a water audit will show where the major water use is coming from and where savings can be made across areas within your hotel.
An audit can be done by the business owner, facilities manager or a member of staff. This could be an opportunity to appoint a water champion or steward. Larger businesses will often procure external specialists in water audits and bespoke solutions.
Some simple measures you can use to start an audit for your business:
Detect leaks:
Leakage can result from faulty equipment such as taps, showers, toilets and cisterns. Do an overnight test using your meter when little or no water is being consumed.
Work out the litres per hour that goes through your meter.
Multiply the number of litres per hour by the annual number of hours X 8,760 and this will give you an idea of how much water is wasted through leakage per year (litres/hour x annual number of hours x 8,760 = annual leakage)
Potential Savings:
By reducing water waste, you will often reduce hot water consumption which is a great benefit as hot water can cost 6-10 times more money than cold. For example a 1,000 m³ leak (less than 2 litres/minute) could cost an average of €2,280 whereas hot water could cost from €13,680 to €22,800.
Compare using benchmarks:
How do you compare to other hotels or accommodation? Understanding how much water you use and how you compare to others can identify water that is wasted through leaks or excessive usage.
The average consumption per overnight guest is:
- 301 litresfor hotels with swimming pools
- 85 litresfor hotels without a swimming pool
Examine hot water wastage:
Hot water can cost 6 to 10 times more than cold water. So reducing hot water consumption can save you more money. Simple measures like keeping the plug in the sink can make a big difference.
A pot-wash sink tap uses approximately 20 litres per minute. If left running with no plug in the sink for five minutes every hour, it can waste up to 1,700 litres of water per day. That's 620,500 litres per year.
This means a cost of €1,800 a year for cold water and €10,000 a year for hot water.
Case study: Hotel in westport saves €10,914 a year with water conservation investment. Find out more
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