Office Practice
Only boil as much water as you need for a cup of tea. If everyone in the UK did this we’d save enough electricity to power nearly half of the country's street lighting.
Water Management
Reducing your water consumption is a key step towards greater sustainability.
Reducing consumption can also help you reduce your overheads.
Simple, low cost actions can make a real difference...
- Fit a tap aerator or a flow restrictor. At a cost of about £5 per tap, this could reduce the flow rate to between 2.5 and 8 litres/min, achieving water savings of up to 10 litres/min.
- Reduce the volume of water used every time you flush the toilet. This can be achieved by installing a displacement device such a water hippo in the cistern (displacing up to 3 litres) - water companies sometimes provide hippos free.
- Find and fix all leaks and drips. Leaks from toilets significantly impact on water consumption and effective maintenance could save between 5-50% on your water consumption. A constantly dripping tap can waste as much as 500,000 litres a year.
- Install a water meter (free from UK water companies) and record meter readings on a regular basis (daily, weekly or monthly) so you can manage and monitor reductions effectively.
- Put up notices in communal areas like the kitchen to remind staff to save water.
Case Study: Every drop counts
As part of a Travel Foundation initiative more than 100 hotels in Morocco are now saving up to 25% of their average water consumption. By implementing simple, inexpensive measures such as installing flow reducers, reducing washing and fixing leaks regularly they have managed to save the same amount of water used by a local family of six over 30 years.