Future-proof your business water and reduce costs - education sector

When it comes to the education sector, water efficiency is essential.

With hundreds or even thousands of students on the premises, as well as teaching and ancillary staff, schools, colleges, and universities use a lot of water.

Water usage increases further in institutions where residential accommodation is provided, so the more you can do now to save water, the greater the cost savings will be.

• How we’ve helped our customers
• Small steps to achieve water efficiency
• Benefits of submitting regular water meter readings
• Bigger investments but bigger savings
• Sustainability credentials

At a time when budgets are being squeezed, the less money you spend on business water and wastewater services, the more money there is to help fund education.

How we’ve helped our customers

Simply by switching their commercial water supplier to us and taking advantage of our proactive Additional Services such as water efficiency audits, Automatic Meter Reading (AMR), and leak detection advice, schools, colleges, and universities have saved thousands of pounds every year on their water bills. Focus Academy Trust saved £7,500, Bradfield College saved approximately £6,000, and the University of Central Lancashire a massive £25,500, every year.

But that’s not the end of the potential cost savings. Implementing water-saving measures can save even more money at the same time as saving water.

Small steps to achieve water efficiency

Water efficiency measures don’t have to be appointed on a grand scale. They could be as simple as adding water-saving bags - such as Hippo the Water Saver- into toilet cisterns, which will not only save up to three litres for every flush but will also reduce your organisation’s carbon footprint. Installing tap and showerhead aerators could also halve water use. You can also start with a simple review of your water usage with our 1-page Site Walk Around Checklist to look for quick wins. You should quickly see a return on even a modest investment.

Other measures could be to place signs in bathrooms and kitchens reminding users to switch the tap off when they’re not using water, such as when they’re cleaning their teeth or washing hands. You should also encourage people to report dripping taps as soon as they notice them - one dripping tap will waste around 60 litres of water every week. If you have a number of dripping taps that haven’t been dealt with, that’s a lot of water - and money - going down the drain.

Benefits of submitting regular water meter readings

An extremely good tool to help you evaluate your water efficiency measures is your water meter. Taking regular meter readings will give you a more accurate idea of your organisation’s water usage, and that will help you to assess the success of any water-saving measures you implement. It’s easy for Castle Water customers to submit regular meter readings on MyAccount to help ensure their bills stay up-to-date and they only pay for the water they use.

Knowing what your regular usage is will also help you to identify leaks on your property. A large increase in water use that cannot be explained is more than likely the result of a leak, and that could not only cost you thousands of pounds in wasted water but also risk potentially expensive damage to your property.

As a bonus, every time you submit a meter reading online, we’ll donate £1 to Save the Children’s Emergency Fund – so you’ll be saving money at the same time as contributing to the well-being of children around the world.

Bigger investments but bigger savings

If you would like a better idea of how your school, college or university could save water, you can invest in a water efficiency audit from one of our specialist partners. They will visit your premises and put together a detailed report of how you currently use water, and the water-saving measures you could implement, such as sensor taps, waterless urinals, and dual-flush toilets, with an idea of the probable costs and potential savings.

It is also possible to collect and recycle ‘grey’ water from sinks, showers, washing machines, rainwater, etc. Rather than going straight down the drain, greywater can be diverted to be used to flush toilets or to outside taps where it can be used to water grounds, wash cars, etc. The additional benefit of this is that you will send less water into the sewerage system and will therefore save money on wastewater charges.

Sustainability credentials

An additional bonus of water efficiency measures in the education sector is that you’ll be adding to your Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) credentials. At a time when young people are strongly committed to sustainability, they are more likely to be attracted to universities and colleges that prove their environmental awareness by introducing eco-friendly measures such as water efficiency.

Our Water Efficiency Guide is packed with easy and practical tips to help your business save water and money. Find your step-by-step Water Efficiency Guide here.

To talk to our Additional Services team today about our proactive solutions to support efficiency, reduce costs and mitigate risk. Email additionalservices@castlewater.co.uk or call 01250 718 718. Email trade.effluent@castlewater.co.uk for trade effluent queries.