1-18
October 2012
1.2
Water Management Planning
Once all opportunities have been evaluated, develop a final list of potential projects
to prioritize, and estimate individual project costs and potential savings as follows:
••
For each identified project or practice, calculate the total water, energy, and cost
savings from the water and energy use reductions. Remember to include savings
from other associated materials and disposal costs. Consult the relevant best
management practices in Sections 2 through 8 of
WaterSense at Work
for assis-
tance with some of these calculations.
••
South Florida Water Management District’s
Water Efficiency Self-Assessment Guide
for Commercial and Institutional Building Facility Managers
provides several equip-
ment and process-specific water use and savings calculators, which can be useful
for analyzing project-related water savings.
16, 17
Identifying Financing Sources
As a first step, determine if the project can be funded through the facility’s operat-
ing expenses or capital funding mechanisms. The following financing sources and
options can also be considered:
••
For larger, more expensive pieces of equipment, consider leasing the equipment
from a technology vendor. ENERGY STAR provides information on a variety of lease
types for energy-using equipment, many of which might apply to water-using
equipment, such as commercial laundry systems or water purification systems.
18
••
Look for rebates and incentive programs offered by the local water utility to
assist commercial and institutional building owners in making water-efficiency
upgrades. Energy utilities also have rebates and incentives available to support
projects that provide associated energy savings (e.g., laundry replacements,
pre-rinse spray valve replacements). Rebate and incentive programs include free
product distribution, partial rebates on purchases of water- and energy-efficient
products, financial incentives based on total gallons of water saved from imple-
menting large-scale projects, and billing offsets based on submetered water
use that can account for water that is not being sent to the sewer (e.g., metering
cooling tower make-up water and blowdown water to account for evaporation).
••
Consider private financing, which can be obtained through performance con-
tracts managed by water management service companies and energy service
companies (ESCOs). The service company develops, finances, and installs proj-
ects designed to improve efficiency and maintenance costs for facilities over a
seven- to 10-year time period. Water management service companies and ESCOs
generally act as project developers for a wide range of tasks and assume the
technical and performance risk associated with the project. Water management
service companies will develop and finance water-efficiency projects, and some
ESCOs will also develop and fund stand-alone water-efficiency projects, although
16
South Florida Water Management District Water Supply Development Section. April 2012.
Water Efficiency Self-Assessment Guide for Commercial and Institu-
tional Building Facility Managers
.
.
17
South Florida Water Management District. SFWMD Library & Multimedia.
.
18
EPA and DOE’s ENERGY STAR. 2007.
ENERGY STAR Building Upgrade Manual
.
Chapter 4: Financing.
.
