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A water audit reveals a £30,000 per year saving for YMCA.

Author: Graham Mann, Water Audit Expert.

If you are seeking to reduce your water and waste water charges employ the services of a water audit expert in order to guarantee the best results, do your homework and consult a company who has been in the business for many years as there is no substitute for experience. Many water consultancy companies make bold claims on their websites but very few if any reveal much details on case studies as if reducing water costs is a “dark art” and some water consultancies are loath to even discuss the basic fearing the customer will do all the work in house.

Yes there is a small element of “good housekeeping” if a property if paying for water by volume and a water meter is installed to the property, then ensuring there are no leaking taps and urinals have occupancy controls fitted to prevent gents toilets from flushing every few minutes is a good start.

However large multi occupied commercial properties such as the YMCA Club in London which is the largest Gym facility in Central London attached to a Hotel complex is a little more challenging and would require the services of a water expert.

It is always advisable to provide 12 months water and waste water bills, yes this takes time and effort but the more information you are able to provide at the outset the better the end result.

The initial request should be for a desktop water audit, provide the appointed consultant with all the relevant billing information and a brief overview of the site and request a no obligation water audit. It is also a good idea at this point to ask the consultancy what there terms of business are for instance some companies do share of savings deals. This is where they will do a free site survey and on completion give you a written report which will give recommendations to reduce water costs, nothing is for free! if you opt for a “share of savings deal” going forwards you will always pay considerably more than if you pay the consultancy an agreed fee to complete the work to achieve the savings and calculate the payback which in most cases will be 6 / 9 months which is a fantastic return of investment, some larger industrial sites may have a longer payback.

An example of a typical desktop water audit is here YMCAClubLondonprelimreport

You may note there is a site survey and report fee of £ 850 + VAT plus an estimated saving potential of £ 30,000. The survey and report fee could normally be rolled over into the cost of executing the recommendations within the final site survey report. As a general guide savings achieved average 20% – 40%.

So what are you waiting for?

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