As part of our public webinar on the topic: Efficient water use in the non-residential sector, held on Tuesday 17th May 2022, guest speaker Adam Jones, Principal Engineer at BMT, presented on measuring water savings and what success looks like for businesses.

Adam Jones from BMT has been a water efficiency consultant to the non-residential sector for 18 years and leads a water efficiency team.

We work in partnership with Adam Jones and Reid Butler from REIDenvironmental to undertake water audits for the non-residential sector through our Smart Water Solutions program. Together, we identify ways for businesses to be more water efficient.

An important step in finding the best efficiency wins is to get a true picture of water use patterns. Jones’ advice is to gather as much information from meters, billing data, insights from staff on site, and physical site inspections to get a clear picture of a business’ water usage - where water is going, when and why.

Where possible, investing in a datalogger for the main meter and key submeters can provide much greater insights for the audit and also ongoing management and evaluation in the future.

For most organisations, opportunities are presented in order of return on investment, prioritising the options with the lowest ‘payback period’ – though there may also be other drivers and benefits to take into account. These could include savings in energy costs, reduced carbon emissions, other operational cost savings, improved risk mitigation and demonstrating leadership to customers and stakeholders.

Jones shared that across all sectors his team has averaged 25% of identified water savings for an average payback period of 1.5 years.

Jones noted that much of their work is funded by water utilities as part of a collaboration with their customers. This is due to a range of benefits to the water utility:

  • Water savings that are achieved and sustained in the long term, improving drought resilience and system operational efficiency
  • Greater awareness of operational systems and better preparedness for key risks
  • A stronger collaborative relationship between the business and water utility with shared insights and mutual support
  • Supporting the productivity of local organisations and industry
  • Demonstrated leadership in stewardship of water resources

Jones concludes, “Success for businesses can also correlate as success for water utilities and there is a real opportunity for large savings both ways.”

This webinar was moderated by our CEO Chris Philpot and included other guest speakers:

  • Tracey Carr, Coordinator Governance and Executive Service and Louise Cadell, Water Sustainability Officer, Tamworth Regional Council
  • Damien Postma, Manager – Demand Delivery, Water Corporation
  • Reid Butler, Principal, REIDenvironmental
  • Steve Askew, Engineer, Hunter Water.

Get in touch if your business is interested in our Smart Water Solutions services.

Read more about our Webinar Series.

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