Best Management Practice: Water Management Planning

A successful water management program starts with developing a comprehensive water management plan. This plan should be included within existing facility operating plans.

Water management plans should provide clear information about how a facility uses water from the time it is piped in to its ultimate disposal. Knowing how water is used and what it costs enables Federal agencies to make appropriate water management decisions.

Water management planning is covered across:

Water Management Plan Overview
Coordination with Facility Environmental Management Systems
Resources

Overview

Federal facility water management plans should include the following:

Water Use Policy Statement and Goals

Senior management should indicate support for water efficiency in a material way. This can be done in two ways:

By providing a written policy statement that ties water efficiency into the long term operating objective of the facility or organization.
By making the necessary staff and financial resources available to track water use, maintain equipment, and implement cost-effective water use reduction projects.

The facility should translate its water efficiency policy into specific water use reduction targets in coordination with its headquarters organization. Each Federal agency, beginning in fiscal year 2008, is directed to reduce water consumption intensity, relative to a fiscal year 2007 baseline, 2% annually through the end of fiscal year 2015 or 16% by the end of fiscal year 2015 through life-cycle cost-effective measures. The numeric target can only be achieved at the agency level if specific reductions are achieved at the facility level.

The facility environmental management system (EMS) can serve as an excellent existing structure to establish policies and goals related to water use and to monitor progress once water use is identified as a significant environmental aspect of the facility. See BMP #2 for additional information.

Utility Information

The purpose of this section is to identify the cost of water and sewer service on a unit basis, verify that you are paying the right amount, and identify any services your utility might provide to help manage water more efficiently. Appropriate utility information should include the following:

Contact information for all water and wastewater utilities.
Current rate schedules and alternative schedules appropriate for your usage or facility type to ensure you are paying the best rate.
Copies of water/sewer bills for the past two years. This helps identify inaccuracies and ensure the appropriate rate structure is applied.
Information on financial or technical assistance available from the utilities to help with facility water planning and implementing water efficiency programs. Energy utilities often offer assistance on water efficiency.
Contact information for the Federal agency or office that pays the water/sewer bills.
Production information if the facility produces its water and/or treats its own wastewater.

Water Use Information

The most important step in creating a water management plan is establishing a water balance for the facility. This includes identifying and quantifying, to the extent possible, current water use. Most Federal facilities have metered data for total water use and may have limited-to-no sub-metering data on component uses. However, a walk though audit of the facility coupled with a basic understanding of how water is being used and some engineering judgment enables the assessor to create a relatively complete account of how water is being used and the approximate quantity used for each purpose. This basic level of understanding is crucial. Once you have a good understanding of water use and how much you are using for each purpose, you will have a solid basis to identify potential water saving opportunities.

The following six steps outline the process for assessing water use trends at your facility:

Plot water use data from the utility water bills for the prior two years. Is water use increasing, deceasing, or steady? Do you know why? Is there a seasonal pattern to water use as is often the case when irrigation water is used or cooling water demand increases in the summer months?
Create an inventory of all water using activities. Other BMPs provide a good checklist to start. You may need to tap the expertise of others at the facility with direct knowledge of building mechanical systems and process equipment to generate a complete inventory.

This step should include a walk-through audit of the facility to identify all significant water using processes and associated operating characteristics. As part of the walk-through, pay particular attention to drain lines plumbed to floor drains in building mechanical spaces and utility chases. Trace these back to the originating equipment to make sure you include them in the inventory.
For all water uses on the inventory, obtain any sub-metering data that may be available. Any such data helps quantify that particular use. You can also make a quick, rough estimate of continuous uses (e.g., once-though cooling) using a bucket and stopwatch technique.
Evaluate any seasonal patterns and compare this to your inventory of uses. Are any uses seasonal in nature, such as cooling tower use or irrigation? The seasonal pattern of water use (peak use) can help quantify these uses.
Use supplemental data to create engineering estimates of use. For example, estimate sanitary water use based on the number of occupants and daily use per occupant; cooling tower use based on cooling capacity and load factor (see BMP #10); irrigation water use based on irrigated area and inches of water applied (discuss with your irrigation contractor); and operating equipment water use based on water use per cycle and frequency of cycles.
After this process, evaluate the results. Does the inventory and associated water use account for most of the metered water use? If not, have you missed something or might there be a leak (see BMP #3)? After stepping through this process, you will know what your big water using activities are, which will help prioritize water saving opportunities.

If you do not have metered total water use information for your facility, examine the component water uses in your estimating basis and the relative contribution of each component. This helps prioritize saving opportunities. Note that your local water utility or agency headquarters may have water efficiency assessment staff that can help with assessment activities.

Metering or Measurement Plan

Once you have conducted the assessment, evaluate the biggest water using activities and the quality of data available for that use. Consider installing sub-meters on water intensive processes, such as cooling towers and irrigation systems. You can more carefully control processes when you have accurate, quantitative data.

Your plan should assign responsibility to track water use on an ongoing basis. Continue to plot total water use as new water bills become available. Also plot any available sub-metered data. Evaluate trends and investigate and resolve any unexpected deviations in water use. Track water use reductions and publicize your success.

Emergency Response Information

Develop water emergency and/or drought contingency plans that describe how your facility will meet minimum water needs in an emergency or reduce water consumption in a drought or other water shortage. This should be done in conjunction with local water suppliers.

Comprehensive Planning

Inform staff, contractors, and the public of the priority your agency or facility places on water and energy efficiency. Ensure water supply, wastewater, storm water issues, and water efficiency BMPs are taken into account when making equipment purchases and at the earliest stages of planning and design for renovation and new construction.

Opportunity Assessment

The water balance described above provides an inventory of water uses and the relative magnitude of each use. For each of these, consider other water efficiency BMPs. Include recommended practices in your facility's operation and maintenance documentation. Develop a comprehensive list of potential capital improvement projects that reduce water use, noting the cost, potential water savings, and payback of each. This list should provide prioritization to include these projects in the capital planning and budgeting process.

Coordination with Facility Environmental Management Systems

Under Executive Order 13423, EMS is the primary management approach for addressing environmental aspects; establishing objectives and targets to ensure implementation; and collecting, analyzing, and reporting information to measure performance. Water management planning and implementation should not be separate and distinct from EMS. Both are part of the same whole. For example, the policy statement and goals discussed above should be consistent with your EMS. The water use information developed here should inform your evaluation of environmental impacts and aspects under your EMS.

The approach you implement for water management should follow the "Plan, Do, Check, Act" model established under your EMS.

Plan: Develop a water management plan, including establishing goals.
Do: Implement the plan, including staff training and operational controls. This also includes implementation of projects identified in the opportunity assessment.
Check: Measure plan implementation.
Act: Review progress and update the plan as necessary.

Resources

The following resources provide guidance on water best management practices. Some of the following documents are available as Adobe Acrobat PDFs. Download Adobe Reader.

Actions You Can Take Now to Save Water and Reduce Costs (PDF 1 MB): Fact sheet outlining steps Federal agencies can take to save water and reduce costs during facility operations and maintenance.
Greening Federal Facilities: An Energy, Environmental, and Economic Resource Guide for Federal Facilities Managers (PDF 2.1 MB): Resource guide compiled to increase energy and resource efficiency, cut waste, and improve the performance of Federal buildings and facilities.
Federal Technology Alert: Domestic Water Conservation Technologies (PDF 525 KB): Study indicating Federal water consumption patterns and trends across domestic technologies, products, and appliances.
General Services Administration Water Management Guide (PDF 3.6 MB): Comprehensive approach for facility managers explaining new water conservation requirement under Executive Order 13123.
Arizona Municipal Water Users Association Facility Manager's Guide to Water Management (PDF 2 MB): Resource to assist in identifying areas where commercial, industrial, and institutional facilities can improve water efficiency within reasonable economic parameters.
North Carolina Water Efficiency Manual for Commercial, Industrial, and Institutional Facilities (PDF 2 MB): Water conservation resource developed and presented by the North Carolina Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

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