Curbing Water Waste

With water rates nearly doubling over the last 10 years, getting a handle on areas where water waste is occurring is an economical exercise. One way to accomplish this is through a water conservation tune-up.

Finding the potential. Lindsay Park, a Mitchell-Lama co-op in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, is a case in point. When the Vantage Group, a water-efficiency consultant, did an analysis of the seven-building complex, it found that the co-op was exceeding its normal water usage by as much as 30%. “It was clear there was a huge potential for savings,” says Alan Rothschild, the company’s president, who determined the problem wasn’t in the building systems, but in the individual apartments.

In properties like Lindsay Park, which was built in 1965, the typical cause of water waste is deferred maintenance of the toilets. “They have parts that wear out after four or five years, so something that was designed to flush two gallons may now be flushing five,” Rothschild explains. “Or they may be leaking slightly, which goes undetected almost all of the time and is even worse.”

Controlling the flow. Principle Water Management, which specializes in water conservation tune-ups for apartment buildings, came in and fixed all of the toilets in the 2,079-unit complex. “We replaced flapper valves and refill valves and adjusted the water tank levels,” says John Rakos, Principle’s president. The tune-ups aren’t just about using less water, but getting the toilets to work as efficiently as possible without causing issues that will make people flush two or three times, thereby defeating the purpose. 

New faucet aerators were also installed along with water-saving showerheads, which brought water usage down from three or four gallons per minute to as little as one-and-a-half gallons. 

Awash in savings. The results of the tune-up, which took a year to complete, exceeded all expectations. Lindsay Park cut its water usage by 30% and saw its annual water bills decrease from $3.8 million to $2.8 million. “It’s pretty mind-boggling,” Rothschild says. “Plus, it’s good for the environment, because when you cut water use by 30%, you’re cutting the electric bill for the building’s pumping systems. There are a lot of ancillary benefits.”

Awash in savings. The results of the tune-up, which took a year to complete, exceeded all expectations. Lindsay Park cut its water usage by 30% and saw its annual water bills decrease from $3.8 million to $2.8 million. “It’s pretty mind-boggling,” Rothschild says. “Plus, it’s good for the environment, because when you cut water use by 30%, you’re cutting the electric bill for the building’s pumping systems. There are a lot of ancillary benefits.”