ESG Metric: GHG Scope 1 emissions
Ease of implementation: Medium
Suitable for: Office, manufacturing and commercial building-based companies
Suggested functional lead: Office or building manager
Summary
Automatic or motion sensor taps are an effective way to reduce water wastage in your facilities. With permission from the facility manager, identify which taps would be most appropriate for your building and book a professional to install them. Ensure you have collected data on water usage and wastage prior to the installation. Post installation, collect data on water saved and share with the team. If possible, share your water wastage reduction externally to ensure other businesses can learn from your success.
Background Information
Automatic or motion sensor taps can save up to 70% of water wasted annually compared to tradition activated taps. This is due to the high quantity of water wasted when turning the tap on and off manually. Traditional taps pour 10 to 15 litres of water per minutes while motion sensor taps only pour 6 litres and will not exceed it. The automatic taps achieve this because they can activate and deactivate within 0.5 seconds of motion detected, reducing the amount of water wasted turning the tap on and off (or leaving it on). Additionally, automatic taps tend not to drip, which is a large contributor to water wastage as well. This is crucial as dripping taps can waste between 300 millilitres to 1 litre per hour.
Implementation Steps
Get permission from office or building manager
If you do not own your building, request permission from the facility manager to install motion sensor taps in your office area. This will benefit the whole facility and may be an incentive for the building to become more sustainable overall.
Collect data on current water wastage
Collect data on the current water wastage in the office or facility to ensure you can compare the water saved once the new taps have been installed.
Identify which sensors would be most appropriate
There are a variety of different technologies for motion sensor taps, however we suggest a Giampieri Main-operated sensor tap as it is supplied by the mains and not battery operator. Review the best sensor taps from 2020 here.
Book a professional to install the sensors tap
Book a professional from your chosen motion sensor tap company to carry out the installation. The installation time depends on the number of motion sensors installed and can range from a day to 2 weeks. However, they can be installed out of office hours to avoid disruptions to staff.
Assign responsibility for monitoring the water wastage reduction
Collect data on water usage and water waste reduction with the new taps and compare it to the data pre-installation. Share the reduction on water wastage with the team. If possible, publish an article or report externally sharing your best practices and methods to waste water reduction for other businesses to learn from.
Maintenance
Occasionally, dust and debris can gather on the detectors, decreasing its effectiveness at detecting motion. This means the taps can be cleaned during the normal cleaning routine in the office. In general, automatic taps require less maintenance than traditional ones specifically in terms of part replacement, cleaning and wear and tear.
Costs
Automated taps can range from a hundred pounds to over a thousand pounds depending on the power source, mounting type, guarantee, flow rate and finish. Whichever type you decide on, reducing your water wastage will save money on water bills and save the business money in the long run. Automatic taps do require more energy however is reduced considerably when accounting for the water saved.