Every business is looking for effective ways to reduce utility bills these days. With prices for electricity and gas increasing all the time, it’s important to make efficiencies across commercial water usage wherever possible.
Business water use can typically be separated into three tiers in terms of quantities used and related industries:
- High usage, which includes industrial manufacturing, large factories, multi-site organisations, farming, and food and drinks production.
- Medium usage such as cafés, restaurants, barbers and hairdressers.
- Low usage of under 6,000 m3 per year. This covers small offices and independent high street shops.
If your business comes under the high water usage category, then even the smallest water efficiency measures can add up to major savings in the long run.
Water usage in the UK
There is a growing awareness of what’s been termed the ‘water footprint’, which is a calculation of the total amount of water needed in order to produce food and products.
With food production, it is obvious where most of the water footprint comes from and why so much is needed. Farmers need to water their crops as well as provide water for livestock to drink. In wet countries like the UK, the majority of the water will come through rainfall or is taken from rivers and reservoirs which are replenished with rain.
The quantities of water needed to produce food are staggering – as individuals, our total water footprint for food consumption is more than 3,000 litres of water per day. Producing just one tomato, for example, uses around 50 litres of water; one potato uses around 290 litres; and the production of one kilogram of beef takes a massive 15,400 litres.
When it comes to products, the amount of water used is equally large. The creation of just one pound of plastic will consume around 100 litres of water, a smartphone will need 14,500 litres, and a car could require anything up to 100,000 litres by the time it reaches the forecourt. Our clothes are also very thirsty. The humble pair of jeans, for example, is one of the biggest water users. And the fast fashion industry, which encourages so many of us to have wardrobes stuffed with clothes we hardly ever wear, is the second-largest consumer of water in the world.
Learn more about water sustainability.
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