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Tools to manage business water use


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Experience has shown that without good water management, improvements in business water efficiency can’t be maintained.

To ensure water efficiency is sustainable for your businesses, the Every Drop Counts (EDC) Business Program uses two management tools – One-2-Five® Water and Water Achiever®.

The One-2-Five® Water (PDF - 0KB) is a self-assessment tool that reviews your company’s performance in ten key areas and identifies five critical tasks your company needs to undertake to ensure effective water management.

Water Achiever® is a simplified version of the One-2-Five® Water. It is designed for businesses with simpler management structures and water use patterns. It will give you specific actions to complete to ensure that you are covering the main parts of good water management.


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The One-2-Five® and Water Achiever® sessions are delivered jointly by the EDC Program, and environmental consultants, Energetics. Diagnostic sessions are free to members of the EDC Business Program.

The One-2-Five® process rates company’s water management with the following star ranking system:

Five star: Best practice and continuous improvement
Four star: Water management integrated into business systems
Three star: Water management systems established
Two star: Basic water management practiced
One star: Understanding of water and wastewater regulatory requirements

Case studies – using One-2-Five®

Investa
Investa Investa Property Group is the first company in Australia to achieve a certified five star rating through the One-2-Five® process.

Investa is Australia’s largest stock-exchange listed owner of commercial property. Investa has ensured the ongoing conservation of water in its portfolio of 15 office buildings, and has cut its national water consumption by more than a quarter. Investa was the first company in the Australian property industry to commit to water consumption benchmarks, and the five star rating certifies its strong water management structures.

Lend Lease
Lend Lease Lend Lease Retail, which owns an extensive portfolio of shopping centres, is a member of the EDC Business Program. Since joining the Program, water management at Lend Lease has assumed a higher priority with the company’s management, and the company is near to achieving a 5 star rating in its management diagnostic process.

“Our latest results at Macarthur Square shopping centre are outstanding,” said Rod Hraiki, Sustainability Manager at Lend Lease Retail.

“Our journey has been challenging at times, however results like these make it all worthwhile. The journey that Macarthur Square began with the Every Drop Counts Business Program has started to benefit our entire portfolio. Our goal is to have Macarthur Square be a model for best practice water management that can be rolled out to other centres”.

EDC Everything you need.

One on one

There’s a range of tools available through the Every Drop Counts Business Program to help your organisation save water and reduce related costs.


Management tools


Need a system to help manage water?

The key tool to help you improve water management is the One-2-Five Management Diagnostic.It helped Rockdale City Council improve its water efficiency and become a leader in sustainable water management and achieve a five-star rating within three years. Good management led to improved water efficiency. By 2006-07 the council cut its water use by more than half.

‘The One-2-Five actions guided our water management team by ensuring a common vision’ and ‘Having everyone around the same table several times a year helped us develop shared priorities and strategies for improving water management, especially improving systems and approaches that have in turn resulted in water savings’. Kristy Gooding, Rockdale Council’s Environmental Strategist.

The One-2-Five® Water diagnostic (for larger organisations) and the Water Achiever diagnostic (for smaller organisations) are free for EDC Business partners.


Need to know more about where water is used in your business?

Water efficiency audits identify how and when water is being used. The EDC Business Program co-funded a water efficiency audit for Kelloggs Australia in 2007. The audit discovered leaks of about 25 kL a day and a further 250 kL a day of potential savings.

EDC partners’ sites that use over 80 kL/day can take advantage of co-funded water efficiency audits. Walk-through audits and water checks are also available for sites with smaller water use.


Want to compare your water use to other organisations?

Benchmarking is one of the best ways to see how your water use compares to industry averages and industry best practice.

The Best Practice Guidelines for Commercial Office Buildings and Shopping Centres (PDF - 17.46MB) combines new industry benchmarks with the NABERS building rating system to show commercial customers how to save money and water in their building. The guidelines help you understand how to improve the overall rating of your building.


Need to monitor water use?

Most businesses that consume a lot of water use sub-meters to monitor and break down water use in different business areas.

EDC Business Program customers are eligible for savings of up to 30% off the recommended retail price of Elster sub-meters.


Want to reuse more water?

Customers that have effectively avoided and reduced water use, often identify more ways to reduce consumption.

The EDC Business Program can help you identify water reuse opportunities. The program may co-fund studies that determine if large-scale projects are technically and financially feasible.

A food manufacturer in Sydney tested an ultra-filtration membrane unit with a reverse osmosis unit to polish water to an acceptable quality to reuse as process water. The full scale treatment plant is under construction and will save about 350 kL of drinking water a day.


Want to use less water for irrigation?

Most councils, universities, clubs and sports trusts are keen to save water and take better care of irrigated landscapes.

The best way to save water and improve turf condition is to increase soil water retention by regularly decompacting heavily used areas and adding slaked clays to sandy soils. Site-specific irrigation assessments take many factors into consideration and have been completed for a number of councils.

Talk to your project officer about the suitability of an irrigation assessment for your outdoor areas.


Technical tools


Fixing leaks Want to track, report and organise your business’s water information?

EDC Online is a new secure site to help business managers prioritise water management projects, track results after implementation and continuously monitor water savings.

The site’s key features include:

To access EDC Online register online.

Want to identify your water use patterns?

EDC project officers can install small data loggers on meters to identify your water use patterns.

The service is offered free for one month. Your project officer can conduct a preliminary analysis of water use, including identifying leaks or excess use. Online monitoring is the key to identifying leaks and water use patterns. Over 60 EDC partners continuously monitor water use through the program.

At Nirimba College a severe leak caused by a malfunctioning pool make-up system resulted in daily consumption of over 500 kL. The online monitoring system identified the leak and its location, saving over $300,000 a year in extra water and wastewater charges.


Interested in capturing cooling water for reuse?

Cooling equipment can produce a lot of condensate. If you want to capture this water for reuse, EDC Project officers can help you find out what the likely savings would be.


Want to know more about rainwater tanks?

Rainwater tanks come in many shapes and sizes. The EDC Business Program has developed a Rainwater Tank Calculator to determine the most efficient tank size for your needs. It takes into account:

Want to try new technology?

If you are an active EDC participant and want to trial a genuinely innovative water saving technology, we may be able to assist.

We may provide funding of up to 80% of trial costs depending on factors such as: the potential for water savings; opportunities to use the technology in other businesses and industries; and how much business risk is involved in the trial.


New Programs


Top 100

The Top 100 monitoring program is focused on the highest 100 water users in Sydney Water’s area of operations. The program offers avaluable, cost-effective tool to manage water and energy use.

Top 100 customers will be given online, real-time access to consumption data from main meters and sub-meters. The program provides water and energy use targets, industry or micro key performance indicators (KPIs) and benchmarks. Base flows and leaks will be easy to identify, enabling a faster response time, which could save you thousands of dollars.

Customers will find the program simple to use. Reports are easily generated for different management levels, including regulators. Top 100 customers will be provided with in-house training and online help.

For more information about our tools and programs, contact your EDC project officer.

Contact Us

Use our contact form for membership enquiries and questions about the program.