Water Conservation for Business Hub
Discover how your business can conserve water and become a water steward. Safeguarding our water supply and cutting down on your costs.
Helping businesses to conserve
Water is a critically important resource, fundamental to both industry and agriculture. But it's also a limited resource with water shortages becoming a global reality. We're here to guide your business on conserving water and making effective changes.
Why conserve water
Small changes in your business can make a big difference. Conserving water not only helps protect your local supply – it can also protect the environment, boost your reputation, and reduce your bills. Learn how to start conserving in your business, including industry specific conservation tips.
Water stewardship initiatives
Global water issues like shortages, flooding and pollution are impacted by industrial activities. Water stewardship helps you to evaluate how you use water and make changes.
Step 1
Pledge to conserve
Commit to making changes that will conserve water in your business. You can post your pledge on social media to show you’re taking action.
Step 2
Water conservation training
This free online quiz helps you to learn all about the importance of water stewardship. You’ll get a digital badge to share your new knowledge.
Helpful Stewardship Resources
What Irish businesses are doing
Intel case study
Dublin Airport Authority case study
Dalata Hotel Group case study
Fund your conservation project
If you already have a project in mind to cut down on your water use, there are many different funding initiatives available. Visit GreenStart and GreenPlus for more information.
What is Water Stewardship?
About Water Stewardship
Water stewardship is a way to evaluate your water use and impacts. It involves evaluating your water use, and making best practices changes. These are most effective if they're adopted both in your business and the local area.Global issues can affect our water supplies. Which of these is a risk to supplies?
About Water Stewardship
Globally, issues related to water availability and quality are critically important. Water scarcity, flooding and pollution can all be increased by water use and discharge. This can result in ecological, social and economic impacts.There are four pillars of water stewardship. What are they?
About Water Stewardship
There are four main principles for examining your water use. Consider each of these areas and decide on actions to reduce your impact.- Quantity - Review the quantity, sources, and impact of your water use to check its sustainability
- Quality - Examine potential pollutants in the water your business discharges (chemical and biological)
- Environment – Restore and preserve High Conservation Value areas around your business
- Governance – Work with stakeholders to achieve fair and transparent water governance
Which of these is a water steward?
Being A Water Steward
A water steward is a person in your business who sets out the plan and implements strategies. Water stewards should have an understanding of:- Your business's water useyour water use to check its sustainability
- The context of your area
- The shared risk of water governance and qualityareas around your business
Part of being a water steward is to create a water map. What does a water map show?
Being A Water Steward
Water mapping is a way to understand your business's water use. It's a simple diagram that captures your water sources, services, end users, and outputs. This allows you to get an idea of how much water you use, and its true costs.
Mapping also helps to identify problems like leaks, and water conservation opportunities. This will allow you to not only save water, but also to cut down on costs.
You always need to consider shared risks when developing a stewardship plan. What are shared risks?
Being A Water Steward
There are risks that come with industrial water use. This is mainly because businesses share a river basin with other water users. Water stewardship helps to address any potential risks and challenges.
- Physical – Disruption in water supply. Decline in water quality. Impact on production and product quality
- Reputational – Water as a public good. Public view of sustainability. Community opposition
- Regulatory – New water allocations. Stricter water quality standards. Comply to global water strategies
- Financial – Increase in water tariffs. Cost of insurance. Investor reassurance
There are several ways to find out how much water your business uses. Which of these should you use?
Identify Opportunities
Auditing your business's water use can help you in establishing baselines. Ways you can check what you use include:
- Analysing your water bill
- Checking your meter readings
- Monitoring patterns of water use
A baseline serves as a benchmark to measure conservation actions against.
You want to reduce the amount of water your business uses. How can you start conserving water?
Identify Opportunities
Conservation is a key part of water stewardship. The level of effort and cost associated with conserving water is wide ranging.
Some initial opportunities that you can action right away are to:
- Invest in water efficient appliances – such as taps, shower heads, toilets, and dishwashers
- Go waterless – use air-vacuums, high-pressure air jets, and dry sweeping
- Buy devices to save water – such as dual flush systems, toilers cistern bags, and shower timers
- Choose low maintenance plants – such as cacti, peace lilies, aloe vera, and jade
Select your pledge to conserve
Commit to making changes that will conserve water in your business. Select one of the three pledges to help us make a difference.
Become water conservation champions
Pledge to spread the water conservation message to your staff and customers. Train staff on the role of water in your business and their role in its conservation. Raise awareness amongst customers.
Learn to identify and compare water waste
Pledge to gain a understanding of how much water you use and how you compare to other businesses in your industry can identify waste through leaks or people wasting water by leaving taps running unnecessarily etc.
Use water efficient devices
Pledge to upgrade your business to use some simple water efficient devices. Urinal controls or waterless urinals, efficient flush toilets and automatic or sensor taps will make a big difference in saving water and money.
