Mar. 30, 2009 -- Tesco has been appointed Yorkshire Water to work on a UK-wide water efficiency project identifying and rectifying high consumption at a number of its stores.
The project -- worth around £388,000 -- will see the company's water conservation experts carry out detailed water audits at hundreds of stores, identifying areas where potential savings could be made.
With energy costs rising year on year, water conservation is becoming a key concern for many large businesses as they spot opportunities where they can make efficiencies. Yorkshire Water technicians have already visited 71 Tesco stores across the country and early estimates suggest the work has the potential to save the company 155 million liters of water each year -- the equivalent of over 64 Olympic swimming pools.
The water audits are carried out in a number of stages: Stage one involves the involvement of water conservation engineers who carry out a detailed inspection of the stores identifying any faulty fittings or items using water inefficiently such as toilets, passive infra-red urinals or storage tanks. Any inefficiencies are rectified by the engineer resulting in immediate water savings for Tesco.
The engineer then carries out a basic leakage test at the site by shutting off the stop tap in store and monitoring the flow levels to identify any leakage in the network/system. If a flow is detected at this stage, a leakage detection team will visit the site and use state-of-the-art leakage detection equipment to pinpoint its location. If a leak is detected, a repair crew will be deployed to fix the affected section of pipe.
The water audits have a number of benefits for the Tesco stores as not only are they reducing any unnecessary water consumption, they are also lowering their carbon footprint which is a key environmental driver for businesses.
Yorkshire Water project manager Simon Redfern said: "Working with a multi-site customer like Tesco on a project of this scale allows us to use some of the leading-edge technology we have available to help our business customers become more water efficient. Phase one of the project has proved extremely successful and we will continue to work with Tesco to develop the water efficiency scheme in stores country-wide."
Yorkshire Water's business services department provides a tailored service to a wide range of business customers in and out of Yorkshire, including manufacturers and retailers, councils and chemical plants dealing with subjects such as water conservation, leakage reduction, water flow monitoring, water audits and trade effluent management.
>> More information about these services
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