A reader writes: “Do you have any data on water consumption and chemicals? I am looking for some base line data. Any assistance would be appreciated.”

Water consumption and chemical usage is a great topic in this age of sustainability and green cleaning. Unfortunately, I do not have any hard data although one associate, Tim Wayne, RBSM, responded with the following comments: “The stats I have are from a restroom cleaning study we did in 2011. We estimated that with changing water three times in the process we will use 18 gallons of water to mop 16 restrooms. If we assume the average restroom is 185 square feet, 16 restrooms would be 2,960 square feet; using 18 gallons of water would be 164 square feet per gallon. I think this is a high number given the water change required in restrooms. I know we used 1.5 gallons of water using microfiber flat mops to perform the same work in 16 restrooms. With the various dilution systems the chemical usage would be subjective. However if we use a 256 to 1 sanitizer as the model we could get a pretty good estimate on usage.”

As usual, the best answer I can give is “It depends…..” on what cleaning systems you are using. For instance, according to Nazar Masry, CHSP, RBSM, many automated cleaning machines have an adjustment for water flow as well as chemical mix. In some key areas you may end up going over a surface much slower or more than once simply to be effective. Other challenges related to this question are how soiled the area is and what are the outcome requirements.

My suggestion is that you conduct your own consumption estimates by measuring water/chemical consumption on different types of accounts.

Your comments and questions are important. I hope to hear from you soon. Until then, keep it clean...

Mickey Crowe has been involved in the industry for over 35 years. He is a trainer, speaker and consultant. You can reach Mickey at 678-314-2171 or CTCG50@comcast.net.


posted on 1/4/2017