How Can I Save Water in my Commercial Washroom?

How Can I Save Water in my Commercial Washroom?

The washroom environment is one of the few rooms in any building to use significant volumes of water (up to 90% of a buildings use). With water costs on the continual rise, it is vital that facility owners and managers look to reduce bills down as much as possible, while at the same time help to improve the building's environmental impact.

Water use within the commercial washroom primarily comes from 4 sources; taps, toilets, urinals, and shower. We aim to look at all 4 and understand current ways in which water consumption can be conserved.

Taps

Water wastage through running taps is a huge problem, particularly in schools and general public toilet areas. There are various options available to combat this, with most allowing for timed flows of water. Most popular and economically friendly are non-concussive taps, often referred to as push button taps. The other mainstream option is to install a sensor tap. Again, this runs for a pre-set amount of time and then cuts out. 

Toilets

The opportunity to reduce the amount of water each toilet flushes is improved when a modern dual flush cistern is installed. Available in both concealed (plastic) and exposed (china) varieties, the modern toilet cistern is available with either a 4 or 6-litre flush. The amount flushed is decided by the user who presses either the large or small button – easy!  Installing a sensor flush toilet kit to your toilet will allow the maintenance team to control the amount of water that is flushed using the programmable solenoid valve.

Urinals

Urinals offer the best water-saving benefits. Products on the market vary between limiting the water use and eradicating it and can be categorised as follows:

Ceiling mounted infra-red sensor flush kit - each urinal is flushed at the same time using a central cistern which holds a stock of water, and is activated when users stand beneath the ceiling sensor.

Individual panel-mounted sensor flush kit - urinals are flushed independently when a user stands in front of a urinal.  This system is particularly good at saving water because it ensures only flushes the urinal that is being used.

Waterless Urinals – Does what it says on the tin! Through the use of either chemicals or floatation seals, no water is required to flush the urinals. This option has massive potential water savings but beware, maintenance and cleaning regimes must be adhered to otherwise smells will likely appear.

Showers

Showers have the potential to waste vast amounts of water if left running.  The use of lever valve controls have the ability to waste-water should the user forget, or decided to leave the shower running when not in use.  Similar to taps, Commercial Washrooms can supply push-button shower valves which are spring-loaded and will turn off automatically.  More modern sensor shower valves incorporate the use of an infra-red bezel to turn the water on and automatically turn the water off after a set period.