Watermark Neil Kitchen C.Eng MCIPS – Project Leader

Watermark

Neil Kitchen C.Eng MCIPS – Project Leader

Topics

• Background to Watermark

• Benchmarking

• Project Results

• Saving Potential

• Case Studies

• C02 Targets

• Lessons learned

• Future of the Project

Who runs Watermark

• OGCbuying.solutions is part of Office of Government Commerce (OGC)

• OGC is an executive agency of HM Treasury

If you do not know how much water you use, how can you begin to reduce it?

Q How much is spent in the public sector on water and effluent services?

A It is estimated that a minimum of £600 million is spent in the UK by the public sector on water and effluent services

How did Watermark begin?

• Back in 1999 there were no central benchmarks for water consumption.

• Therefore establishing targets for water consumption was difficult.

• OGCbuying.solutions identified a need for central benchmarks

How did Watermark begin?

• Applied and was awarded Invest to Save (ISB) funding in early 2000 for 1st April start.

• Project funding granted for 3 years.

• Project sponsors included OGC, DETR, DfEE and Wiltshire County Council

What is Watermark?

• A computerised water monitoring service that collects data to establish benchmarks for building types and organisations

Watermark Main Aims

• To produce reliable benchmarks for different building categories

• This included different factors that could possibly drive water consumption such as staff, visitors, hours of use, etc.

• To prove by efficient management water can be saved.

How did Watermark achieve its aims?

• By gathering water consumption data and building specific data it will generate a benchmark and investigate those factors that drive water consumption in different buildings.

• To prove water can be saved by efficient management a straightforward Monitoring and Targeting (M&T) system was run offering bill validation and regular reports.

Benchmarks Benchmarks

Benchmarks – some theory

• Based upon the EEBPP (now Action Energy) rationale.

• To establish a benchmark it is normal for a minimum of 50 sites complete with 2 years consumption data to be used.

What data is required?

• Consumption data

• Staff numbers

• Floor area

• Opening hours

• Visitor numbers

• Age of building

• Catering facilities

• Does the site have a swimming pool

• Does the site have garage facilities

• Does the site have any other processes that use water

Benchmarking – The Process• Regression analysis is carried out to determine the

most suitable primary driver.

• The water consumption is expressed as a specific consumption – total water consumption divided by the most appropriate driving factor

• Specific consumption for sites are grouped and plotted onto a graph – we would expect to see a bell shaped curve

Benchmarking – The Process

• Apply a T-Test to the data to ascertain other factors.

• Take the median as the typical benchmark and the upper quartile as the best practice point.

Benchmarking – as applied to Offices

• Data sample of 500 offices

• Regression analysis took place on staff numbers, floor area, opening hours and building age.

• Staff numbers was the most appropriate primary driver.

y = 0.0646x

R2 = 0.8489

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Offices Water Consumption Bell Curve

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Benchmarking – as applied to Offices

• A T-Test was applied to catering facilities, showers, maintained grounds.

• No correlations were found.

• Resultant benchmark = 9.3 m3/staff/yr

• Best practice = 6.4 m3/staff/yr

Benchmarking – as applied to Offices

• Potential saving figures

• If all the offices in the data set of 500 achieved or bettered the benchmark of 9.3 m3/person/yr then approximately 467,000 m3 of water per year could be saved.

• Taking an average of 80p for the supply and the same for sewerage then this equates to £747,200 = average per site of £2,989

Benchmarking – How can I apply this to my organisation?

• Able to measure relative performance using established benchmark

• Establish your own benchmark if you have a number of offices

• Set targets for sites

• Target sites and assign resource to poor performing sites

PROJECTPROJECT

RESULTSRESULTS

Participating Organisations

• Over 300 individual organisations have submitted data on over 3200 sites.

• Including in Scotland:

Forestry Commission Scottish Executive

Scottish Prison Service Tayside Fire Brigade

NHS Scotland East Lothian Council

Midlothian Council Perth & Kinross Council

A number of museums, colleges & universities

Bill validation – what is it?

Some water bills do have errors in them such as:

• Wrong tariffs applied

• Wrong account number and site

• Incorrect totals

• Meter readings that do not follow on from previous readings

• Duplicate bills

• Rateable values incorrectly levied

• Incorrect standing charges applied

Bill validation Results

• We have validated 986 water bills

• 2% have errors

Bill validation Results

• Errors have realised £54,691 in refunds to participants

• If these errors had gone un-noticed then the annual charge would be £287,328

Benchmarking Results

The project has established benchmarks for the following building categories:

Offices Prisons Schools Hospitals Courts Police stations Colleges & Universities Public loos Museums & Art Galleries Nursing homes Coastguard stations

Benchmarking Results

Analysis is being carried out on the following building categories:

Community Centres Sports Centres Libraries Golf Courses

Benchmarking Results

If all the establishments in these building categories were to achieve or better the typical benchmark then there are potential savings in the region of:

£ 113 million

Earlier we thought the annual bill for water services in the public sector was £600 million then the above figure equates to 18.8%

Actual Savings

• Derby University on one site alone have saved £38K = 68% of the overall water bill

• Derby university have saved in total £54K

• DfES – 5 offices have saved £5K since Sept 02

• HM Treasury saved £21,768 = 56% of overall water bill – see case study

Results - Actual

Case Studies

Case study – Parkhurst PrisonCase study – Parkhurst Prison

Case study – Parkhurst Prison

• Survey and trade effluent application for laundry carried out

• Leak identified

• Fitted controls to remedy automatic continual flushing of urinals

Case study – Parkhurst Prison

• Total outlay = £5,125

• Estimated savings = £60,000

• Initial meter readings show a 30% saving from consumption a year ago.

Case study – HM Treasury

• Submitted a questionnaire and 2 yrs billing data.

• From this data it was obvious the building had problems.

• An action plan was formed between HM Treasury and the Watermark contractor.

• Contractor surveyed the building, fixed leaks, downsized meters & installed water saving equipment

Case study – HM Treasury

Case study – HM Treasury

• As previously stated HM Treasury saved £21,768 over an 18 month period and continue to enjoy a much smaller overall water bill.

Survey Results

• 57 surveys carried out to date on a variety of buildings

• Estimated savings = 377,000 m3/year

• Average payback = 11 months

C02 Targets

• A report was prepared for Watermark by BRE to investigate the impact of water efficiency measures on CO2 emissions. This study focused on CO2

emitted for the supply of water and the treatment of wastewater

• The results concluded that 0.404kg of C02 is produced for every cubic metre of water delivered and treated.

• This report is published on the website

Linking C02 with saving water

• Going back to the office data set.

• The average save per office is 1868 m3

• This equates to 755 kg per year of C02

Lessons LearnedLessons Learned

Lessons Learned

• Water seems to be the forgotten utility.

• There are big savings to be made.

• It is relatively straight forward to make savings

• Normal savings in the region of 15~20%

• Payback under 12 months

Lessons Learned - Tips for Saving Water• Take regular meter readings – daily/weekly, plot

consumption on a spreadsheet with a graph, look for spikes

• Carry out bill validation – right tariff, right meter size

• Take overnight readings – establish a baseline consumption figure to discover leakage rates.

• Visual inspections - eradicate all forms of leakage – urinals, cisterns and taps

• Swimming pools – pool cover, rebate

Lessons Learned - Tips for Saving Water

• Carry out a water balance – does all water usage go down the drain.

• Laundries – industrial tariffs, recycling schemes

• Appoint a water champion – water awareness campaigns, signage

• Long term plan and budget for installing water saving devices and maintaining them.

Water Saving devices – payback periods

• Urinal controls – typical saving 30-80% - payback 0.1~1 year

• Volume control in cisterns – typical saving 15% - payback 0.2~0.5 year

• Percussion taps/spray taps/tap flow restrictors – typical saving 20-80% - payback 1~4 years + energy savings in hot water

The Future of the The Future of the ProjectProject

The Future of the Project

• ISB funding runs out 31/3/03

• All benchmarking information and results will be made public via the watermark website (www.watermark.gov.uk) and final project report.

• A range of fee paying services are available for those who want to save water.

Services Available

• Subscription service for bill validation and M & T reports

• Survey

• Work carried out on a capital only basis

• Water Services contract

Services Available

What is a Water Services Contract??

• PFI type contract

• The Watermark main contractor Adsm will install and maintain water saving equipment for a share of the save

• Based over 3 years

• Bill validation and M & T reports included

• Capped as a % of overall water bill

The Future

• Continue to log water consumption data that is submitted manually and via the website.

• The website now has an interactive tool.

• Continue to work with organisations to put water reduction strategies into place via the services mentioned previously.

Closing Comments

• Background information to the project

• Benchmarking – theory and practice

• Project results

• Case studies

• C02

• Lessons learned

• Future of the project

Contact Details

E-mail = [email protected]

Website = www.watermark.gov.uk

THANK YOU FOR THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIMEYOUR TIME

Questions Questions