October 2012
1-13
1.2
Water Management Planning
improvement (e.g., leaking fixtures, single-pass
cooling, outdated equipment). In addition, consider
the following:
••
Interview any personnel that manage water-
using systems or equipment to understand how
the systems and equipment are operated and
maintained and to verify water use.
••
Capture enough detailed information about
all water-using fixtures, equipment, systems,
and processes to determine how much water is
consumed by each end use.
••
Use survey forms or checklists, such as the Existing Plumbing Equipment and
Water Use Inventory Worksheets, provided in Appendix B, to record fixture or
equipment inventories, water use specifications (e.g., fixture flow rates), and
water use patterns. This information can later be used to estimate water use.
9
Be
sure to record the hours of operation for each system or fixture to more accurate-
ly calculate water use over time.
••
During the tour, pay particular attention to drain lines plumbed to floor drains
in building mechanical and utility spaces. Trace these drain lines back to the
originating equipment to make sure they are included in the inventory.
••
Identify locations of all meters and submeters if the locations were not deter-
mined during the data-gathering phase. Read the meters and submeters, and
check that the units and scale of the readings match water bills and internal log
books.
Verifying Water Use When Possible
In some instances, it may be possible to measure or verify the water use from specific
fixtures, equipment, systems, or processes. When verifying water use, consider the
following:
••
If discharge from water-using equipment or processes is evident during the tour,
use a bucket to manually collect water use over a 15-, 30-, or 60-second time
period. Measure the water use collected during that time period to determine
flow rates.
••
If possible, install temporary water meters or flow meters for larger water-using
equipment or processes and briefly monitor water use. If the water use is fairly
consistent throughout the day, water use could be measured for a period of a
few minutes to estimate typical water use. If the water use fluctuates throughout
the day, water use data should be collected over a 24-hour period to estimate an
average water use. It is important to note the days of operation for each water
use measured in order to estimate an annual water use.
Water assessor conducting a facility tour
9
AMWUA Regional Water Conservation Committee and Black and Veatch,
op. cit.
,
Page 18.
