Our Thirst For Water

1. Our Thirst For Water… The Hospitality Industry’s Significant Role In Water Conservation

2. How Did We Get Here? • Too little rain • Overuse of water resources • Wastefulness • More Wastefulness • Still More Wastefulness

3. The Bad News… • Current water resources in the Triangle area cannot keep up with usage in the long term.

4. The Good News • Hotels, motels and restaurants can play a significant role in extending available resources by implementing water conservation programs.

5. Even Better News • Hotels, motels and restaurants may be able to increase profits by making conservation a part of their everyday business practices.

6. The Facts: • A study by the American Hotel & Lodging Association found that the average hotel consumes about 209 gallons of water per occupied hotel room each day. Another study suggests that Triangle Hotels consume an average of 218 gallons per occupied room daily. That is almost as much as a household of four uses each day.

7. Therefore….. • A hotel in the Triangle, having 100 occupied rooms will use approximately 21,800 gallons of water daily. • That amounts to 7,847,500 gallons per 100 occupied rooms annually.

8. Percentages of water use in hotels

9. Restaurants… • Restaurants use an average of 5,800 gallons of water daily. • Studies suggest that restaurants can reduce water usage an average of 29% by installing water-saving devices and educating employees in ways to conserve water.

10. Savings….. • That’s a savings of 1,682 gallons daily. • The restaurant has the potential of saving 613,390 gallons of water over the period of one year.

11. Breakdown of restaurant water use

12. Crisis OR Opportunity? • There is a large and growing opportunity for hotels, motels and restaurants to reduce environmental impact and operating costs.

13. Tools Hotels Can Use • Linen reuse cards • Towel reuse cards • Information flyers and tent cards • Scrolling screen information on TV • Low-flow faucet aerators • Low-flow showerheads • Low-flow toilets • Waterless urinals

14. Linen and towel reuse • More environmentally-minded hotel and motel patrons are requesting that during multiple-day stays that they re-use their linens and towels rather than have them changed daily.

15. Thank you for caring. Please be kind to the Earth and help protect our water resources by reusing your linens. However, if you wish to have your linens changed today, please leave this card on your pillow. How Does It Work? • Option cards are made available in each room so guests can “opt out” of daily linen and/or towel changes.

16. The Savings…. • According to John Stanley, president of Project Planet Corporation, a 100-guestroom property with 75 percent occupancy will save, conservatively, an estimated $25,000 per year through a linen and towel reuse program. These cost savings are derived from a 81,000 gallon reduction in water consumption plus a 540-gallon reduction in detergent use.

17. Public restrooms at restaurants • Locate and repair leaks. A leaking toilet can waste more than 50 gallons of water daily and a dripping faucet can waste up to 1,000 gallons per week. • Retrofit faucets with low-flow aerators. • Install ultra low-flow toilets. Older toilets use 4.5 gallons per flush whereas low-flow toilets use 1.6 gallons per flush. • Install waterless urinals.

18. Cleaning • Whenever possible, use dry cleaning methods rather than wet cleanup. Use a broom and dustpan rather than a water hose. • When water is required for wet cleanup, use budgeted amounts of water.

19. More Ways To Save • Let’s take a look at some low-cost water-saving devices that can have high-dollar long term savings with quick pay-back.

20. Kitchen Water-saving Devices • Low-Flow Pre-rinse Spray Valve gives 80% water use reduction • Sink Aerator • Toggle Aerator • Kitchen Aerator 2.2 gpm at 80 psi

21. Bathroom Water Savers • Toilet Tank Fill Diverter • Adjustable Toilet Tank Repair Valve • Waterless Urinals • Ultra low-flow toilets

22. Water Savers For The Shower • Water-saving Massaging Showerhead – 1.5 to 2.5 gpm flow rates at 80/PSI • Premiere Showerhead – Cuts water use by 40 – 50%

23. Where to look for information • There are a number of Web sites dedicated to hotel, motel and restaurant water conservation, energy conservation and waste reduction. The following are a few of the places with great environmental ideas…….

24. www.P2Pays.org/hospitality/

25. Downloadable Documents

26. Links To Green Hotel Information

27. Best Practices Reference http://wrrc.p2pays.org/industry/indsectinfo.asp?INDSECT=29

28. www.greenhotels.com

29. www.greenseal.org

30. Greener Accommodations http://www.greenworks.tv/special/greenhotel/home.html

31. www.globalstewards.org/hotel.htm

32. www.greenlodgingnews.com

33. www.projectplanetcorp.com

34. www.ceres.org/industryprograms/ghi.php Ceres Program

35. Water savings for restaurants http://www.p2pays.org/ref/23/22003.pdf

36. Green Hotels Listserv http://groups.google.com/group/nc-greenhotels?hl=en

37. Multi-media Waste Reduction • The North Carolina Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance can provide free, non-regulatory waste reduction assistance for hotels, motels restaurants and other businesses. Our environmental experts address energy and water conservation issues as well as solid waste reduction.

38. Tom Rhodes North Carolina Division of Pollution Prevention and Environmental Assistance (919) 715-6516 tom.rhodes@ncmail.net