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News Release from: Envirowise
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 24 May 2001
Helping businesses to reduce water bills
To provide more focused guidance for businesses on how they can reduce their water bills and comply with new legislation, Envirowise is establishing a section specifically dealing with water
Many businesses will be hard hit by the increased water charges incurred as a result of UK compliance with the effluent treatment requirements of the European Commission's Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive According to Envirowise, many companies can reduce their water consumption and effluent production by more than 20%
To provide more focused guidance for businesses on how they can reduce their water bills and comply with new legislation, Envirowise is establishing a section specifically dealing with water.
Formerly known as the Environmental Technology Best Practice Programme - Envirowise provides free, practical advice and information to UK businesses on how to save money and improve profits through minimising waste at source.
It does this via the Environment and Energy Helpline (0800 585794) which is staffed by specialist business advisors experienced in waste minimisation.
They handle over 700 calls per week and, last year alone, claim to have saved British business more than ?125 million.
They can provide a range of services, including a site visit from an industry consultant who will advise on immediate savings, under the Fast Track scheme.
Martin Gibson, Envirowise Director, comments: 'Many companies are shocked when they se the savings they could make.
Our consultants work with them, there and then, to help make these savings a reality.' Envirowise also produces a range of publications, including Good Practice Guides, Case Studies and in depth data sheets.
The complete list of over 300 can be seen on the Envirowise website.
Envirowise also supports the development of waste minimisation clubs, which promote collaborative waste minimisation actions between groups of businesses.
A collaborative study was recently set up to target water savings in the North East.
It included 10 companies in the study, mainly in the food and drink, meat and chemicals sectors.
Project CLEVER (Coastal Liquid Effluent VolumE Reduction) sought to demonstrate savings in the 10 target companies and use the resulting information in case studies to help other similar businesses meet the requirements of the Urban Waste Water Treatment Directive.
The study adopted a structured approach based on water balance, prioritisation, minimisation and cost benefit estimation.
It demonstrated typical overall water savings between 33% and 70%.
One company, James Ross and Son (Newcastle) Ltd is already making significant savings through excellent control of water use on site, but even here the study identified additional potential savings on predicted water and trade effluent charges.
Simple low-cost measures could save some participating companies up to 60%, while at two companies, leaks accounted for 18% and 28% of wasted water.
A feature of the study was the participation of staff at all levels within the companies.
Comments from participants included: 'I wish we had done this years ago', 'extremely valuable' and 'very constructive and practical recommendations'.
For more information on how Envirowise can help and for free copies of a range of publications that can help reduce water consumption, contact the Environment and Energy Helpline - 0800 585794.
The Environment and Energy Helpline is a free service for UK businesses provided by Envirowise and the Energy Efficiency Best Practice Programme.
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