From design to delivery, our services and solutions provide the help our Clients need to become more water-efficient.
Consultation and Feasibility Study
Waternomics will meet with a potential Client to determine what future water goals are achievable and prepare a feasibility study impacting that projects specific water needs. A detailed audit pertaining to all of the existing equipment will be evaluated through our proprietary measurement and verification methods by which to determine current flow ratios. These flow ratios will include gallons per minute (GPM) and gallons per flush (GPF) and will relate to the current water usage. Included in the audit will be the various equipment manufacturers, their type and model designations, along with the overall condition and age. Additional audit information will contain total fixture counts, pictures of the current equipment, remaining equipment longevity and the relationship to current ADA and handicap codes.
Once the audit is concluded, Waternomics will gather additional data such as Operational hours, Employee and Visitor occupancy counts, current water and sewer rates, energy and gas rates along with various other information and prepare an analysis model on this projects current usage. This model is then compared to what the actual historical data usage was for the last several years and will be used as conformation that the information gathered is indeed correct.
Waternomics will then provide a comprehensive water use and savings analysis model which will compare the existing equipment's water usage versus a number of new water conservation devices. This analysis will determine the economical annotations and savings involved and will be customized to fit the needs of each individual Client. These savings will help establish what the return on the initial investment (in years) would be by evaluating the project cost versus the annual savings.
Review of Operational and Maintenance Costs
Operational and Maintenance cost relate to the expenses associated with repair or replacement of existing equipment that uses water and specifically deals with the labor and materials involved. In depth interviews will be performed with the maintenance staff to determine the percentage of time it takes regarding repairs to water usage equipment. A further investigation will be done to ascertain the cost associated with materials used annually for replacement or repair. These annotations will be used in the final water conservation analysis model detailing the additional savings to be had with a water conservation program. With new water conservation equipment being installed, Operational and Maintenance cost would drop significantly for the next several years.
Review of existing Water and Sewer Cost
Water and Sewer cost vary greatly across the continent, not only from State to State but from City to City. These costs are a keystone in making water conservation decisions and what was once an unimportant line item on an income statement is now catching attention as a significant cost item. Historically, water and sewer rates have never gone down and in the last ten years, have increased by over 100% in many parts of the country. Most water providers will invoice a Client through the amount of water used, which in turn relates to the amount of Sewer also to be invoiced. Most billing invoice fees are based on either units of cubic feet (cf) or units of 1000 gallons (kgal) of water\sewer usage along with the many different other fees such as supply line size, discharge line size and number of meters, just to name a few. Predominately, Sewer rate fees will be higher than water rate fees when invoiced.
Waternomics will provide a comprehensive audit relating to the past several years of water and sewer annotations and determine what advantages are to be obtained from this information. This audit will include peak usage times, explanation of rates, explanation of meter usage, invoiced supply line size, invoiced discharge line size and historic billing cycles. The determination of this type of audit would reflect in the accountability of a bad water meter, wrong supply or discharge pipe invoicing or excess water usage due to an underground leak or other reasons associated with unexplainable high water usage.
Review of existing Energy Costs
Energy cost, such as electricity or gas, have a great impact on the operational cost associated with water. Whether a boiler is gas fired or run by electricity, these two energy sources should be strongly considered and measures taken to lower their usage. Consider that if less hot water is used due to a water conservation program, then less energy will be needed to heat that water. The same can be said for various other equipment such as cooling towers, dishwashers, convection steamers and various kitchen and food prep appliances.
Waternomics will provide a comprehensive audit of all water usage equipment which is associated with additional energy sources and through various alternative value engineering techniques, determine what additional savings could be achieved.
Utility Incentive Programs
Due to the recent droughts in many parts of the country, various incentive programs have been established with the goal of motivating organizations to use less water. Some Municipalities have even established a program where they will, at no charge to the individual, completely change out the existing toilets with more water conservative models. Rebates on water bills are also a common practice when adopting a water conservation program.
Waternomics will determine what Federal, State or Municipality incentive programs are in effect for that projects specific location relating to water conservation. If an incentive program is available, we will ascertain all pertinent information and realize its benefits for that Clients specific water conservation project.
Identification of Water Conservation Devices
There are literally thousands of water conservation devices on the market today. These include toilets, urinals, faucets, showerheads, metering systems and a host of others. The real question is, which devices are right for that specific project's needs. Over the years Waternomics has both reviewed and tested numerous items relating to water conservation and our field-proven methods have shown us which devices work and which ones do not. It is our goal to provide the Client with the most dependable and cost effective water conservation devices on the market today by which to meet the goals of that specific project. Our attention will be on what is the most cost effective equipment which could be used to replace this projects existing equipment.
Project Management
Waternomics has been involved with hundreds of water conservation projects over the last 20 years, from start to finish. Our success has been based upon one goal, provide exceptional service to the Client. To do this, we invest in our products, people and proven proprietary methods relating to water conservation.
Once a project has the go-ahead, our knowledgeable and experience staff will instigate the ordering of materials, subscribe to any required permitting and insurance, oversee scheduling with on-site management, perform all water conservation retrofit measures, complete a detailed inspection of completed work and train the on-site maintenance staff regarding the installed equipment. Our services provide the Client, from the beginning of the feasibility Study, to the final inspection of completed work, a turnkey project generated to save water.
