Tips for saving water

Educate your staff- tell your staff about the importance of saving water. Challenge them for ideas about how and where you can save water in your business. You could also consider putting notices up around your business reminding staff to report leaking taps straight away, or to turn off the water supply from sinks in between use.

Install water efficient equipment - A key incentive for businesses to invest in water-efficient technologies is the enhanced capital allowance scheme. This tax break allows busesses to claim 100 per cent on five-year capital allowances on technology and products that support sustainable water use.

All units that have ECA Water Technology Approved Logo are eligible for the Enhanced Capital Allowance Scheme.

At Cambridge Water we provide a range of products suitable for business use, ranging from water efficient toilets and showers to urinal flush controls and  rainwater harvesting systems. To find out more click here . You may also like to invest in water-minimising controls, for example push taps and low-flush toilets, flow regulators and restrictors. The pay-back time for installing flush controls in urinals can be s little as five weeks.

Monitor water use - advice from Business Link is to appoint a member of staff to monitor water use, eg by doing a regular walk-round survey of your business and reading water meters.

Install sub meters (for larger businesses) - If your business uses large quantities of water you could consider installing sub-meters which can provide remote meter reads on demand helping you to swiftly identify where water is being used in your business, potential efficiencies and assist the rapid detection of leaks.

Identify leaks - If you believe you have a leak on your property you should notify Cambridge Water straight away. To demonstrate our commitment to the control of leakage we will repair the first leak to your property free of charge. Terms and conditions apply. For more information please click here to read our service pipe maintenance leaflet.

Cambridge  Water can also help you to identify whether you have a leak on your commercial premises, however, please note there is usually a charge for this service. 

If your business allows you to turn the water off you can use your meter to help identify whether or not you have a leak.

Water is paid for by the cubic metre. On your water meter the black numbers on the meter indicated the cubic metres used and the red numbers indicated the fractions of cubic metres. To check that you do not have a leak on any pipework after the meter:

  • Turn off all taps
  • Read the meter (including the red digits)
  • Do not use any water for a length of time (eg overnight or while the water in your premises has been switched off.)
  • Read the meter again

If the second reading is higher than the first there may be a leak please contact us. We will then send an inspector to the property to investigate further.

Protect against cold-weather related leaks and burst pipes - ensure you inslate all pipes to ensure they are protected against the cold weather.

Consider re-using process water and investigating alternative water-resources, eg rainwater.

Check your meter serial number - Your meter serial number should match the number on your bills. If it does not please contact us.

Fix dripping taps and leaks as quickly as possible.

Reduce your waste water costs - there are two types of waste water from an industrial business - sewerage and trade effulent. Sewerage in the water, including rainwater, collected from any of your drains that are connected to the mains public sewer network. Trade effluent is liquid water produced as part of any trade or industry that is discarged from your premises into the public sewer network. You are committing an offence if you discharge trade effluent to a foul sewer without consent. For more information visit the Business Link website.

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