If you own an apartment
building with a single water meter you are either including water in the rent
or using a Ratio Utility Billing System (RUBS) based on some ratio, such
as number of tenants and/or square footage. This
means tenants do not necessarily have an incentive to save water since they're
not paying for it directly.
Sub-metering:
According to
the Alliance for Water Efficiency, installing water meters or sub-meters, and billing according to water usage, is the
single most effective water conservation measure one can take. However, this
can be a very expensive undertaking and depending on how the plumbing of your
building was designed, may be impractical.
Toilets:
Studies have
found that toilets are by far the main
source of water use in the home, accounting for over 30 percent of residential
indoor water consumption in homes with older toilets. Toilets,
manufactured before 1992 use up to 3.5 gallons per flush.
Recent
advancements have allowed toilets to use 1.28 gallons per flush or less while
still providing equal or superior performance. This is 20 percent less water
than the current federal standard of 1.6 gallons per flush.
Replacing older toilets
with High Efficiency Toilets (HET) is simpler and less costly than sub-metering
and requires no behavioral changes on the part of your tenants. Furthermore
there are a number of rebate programs you may qualify for:
- The Santa Clara Valley Water District (SCVWD) will rebate up to $125 to eligible Santa Clara County customers for upgrading to a qualifying model High Efficiency Toilet.
- The Bay Area Water Supply & Conservation Agency (BAWSCA) will rebate up to $100 to participating water district customers for upgrading to a qualifying model High Efficiency Toilet.
Leaks:
The California
Department of Water Resources states that water leaks account for 30% of the
average household water usage. This is an easy source to go after. Bring in a
real estate property inspector to find any leaks and then send the list to your
favorite plumber. Besides wasting water, undetected leaks are a great way to
attract subterranean termites and to rot out the subfloors in your bathrooms
and kitchens.
Posters:
Another
inexpensive, yet effective solution is to put up a poster in your apartment
building with suggestions on how tenants can conserve water, doing their part
to help during the drought. Here is a link to a poster I found on-line. Print
it, laminate it and hang it up.
