Office Restrooms May Be The Key To Cutting Water Bills

The office toilet could hold the key to cutting a companies’ water bills, according to an article from IOL. A recent study at the Stellenbosch University Business School (USB) in Cape Town, South Africa, found that in one office building alone, yearly water consumption and associated costs was cut by 87 percent by fixing a leak, introducing efficient toilet flushing mechanisms, and installing smart metering to monitor and manage consumption.

Office buildings consume almost half the municipal water supply in Cape Town, although they make up just 10 percent of customers, with office bathrooms responsible for up to 90 percent of a commercial building’s consumption and also the greatest source of leaks and inefficient water use, the article said.

Getting large commercial consumers to reduce consumption significantly by eliminating waste and increasing efficiencies can have a quicker impact, the study said.

Using smart water metering and data logging, the study monitored water consumption of 30 office buildings to understand usage patterns and identify inefficiencies, leaks and opportunities for savings.

At one office building, the study found 55 percent of annual consumption of 21,814 kiloliters (over 5.7 million gallons) was lost to a leak.