Taking charge of your building’s water usage has never been more crucial amongst rising utility costs and environmental concerns. This article explores a few key tips on how to efficiently manage water usage and prevent leaks as a commercial property owner or manager.

Summary

California has set a goal for a 15% reduction in water usage in the next few years due to frequent droughts.
Commercial property managers and owners have a unique opportunity to address excess water usage to help the environment and save money.
Detecting leaks promptly is the most significant and costly water usage problem faced by commercial property managers.
Proactive leak detection is critical to curbing water usage and driving down costs.
Water leak sensors can immediately identify leaks at the source and alert property owners or managers to take swift corrective action.
Cloud-based water usage management platforms can track water usage patterns, identify irregularities, and optimize consumption.
Advanced data analytics can detect hidden inefficiencies and provide insights for more intelligent decision-making.

4 Steps to Managing Water Usage and Saving Money

1. Detect Leaks Early with Innovative Solutions

The greatest and most costly water usage problem that commercial property managers face is detecting leaks in a timely manner.

“Undetected leaks cost the average household about 10,000 gallons of wasted water every year, and about 10% of properties have leaks that waste more than 90 gallons of water per day (more than the average person uses daily!).”

Undetected leaks can:

Waste water
Drive up water bills
Cause mold to grow, resulting in hazardous living conditions
Cause costly damage

Simply relying on manual inspections to catch leaks can cause water damage and remediation costs to accumulate over time.

“As a commercial property manager or owner, implementing a proactive leak detection strategy is key to curbing water usage and driving down costs.”

Proactive leak detection starts with deploying a leak detection system in your commercial property. Water leak sensors can immediately identify leaks at the source and alert property owners or managers to take swift corrective action. By addressing leaks from the moment they begin, significant amounts of money can be saved by avoiding costly structural repairs and water damage restoration. According to Jordan Edl of Alert Labs,

“One commercial property owner who installed a leak detection system reported that their leak detection sensor helped prevent an estimated $6,000,000 in damage to the property just by alerting them of one water leak event.”

Water leak sensors can be placed around your property for full flood detection. Placing sensors around toilets, water heaters and boilers, sump pumps, washing machines, faucets, or any other place where a leak is likely to occur is the best solution for minimizing the potential damages caused by leaks. By being proactive and installing a leak detection system, you’ll be saving yourself the future cost and headache of water damage remediation.

2. Track Water Usage

Understanding your property’s water usage is a key step in managing water usage. By using monitoring and analytics tools like cloud-based water usage management platforms, you’ll be able to track water usage patterns, identify irregularities, and optimize consumption. Advanced data analytics can detect hidden inefficiencies and provide insights for smarter decision-making, resulting in significant cost savings and waste reduction.

Water usage management platforms typically include a water flow sensor and a online dashboard that provides usage analytics. The water flow sensors typically attach onto water meters and map out each building’s unique water usage patterns. Once familiar with typical usage, the sensors will send alerts for occurrences like water leaks, power outages, temperature abnormalities, humidity, and unusual water usage. Water flow sensors can help keep water bills down by monitoring water supply and providing insight into abnormal water usage in real time. Paired with an automatic water shutoff valve, water flow sensors can help property managers and owners take an active role in managing their property’s water usage.

3. Implement Advanced Technologies

According to The Pacific Institute, urban water use could be decreased by 30% just by adopting current standards for appliance water efficiency. This includes fixing leaky pipes and replacing washing machines and toilets with the latest and most efficient models. Further investing in more advanced technologies could increase water savings up to 48%.

Using advanced technologies to decrease water usage also includes implementing a suite of advanced IoT (Internet of Things) technologies like sensors, smart meters, and cloud-based platforms in your property. A combination of the leak detection sensors, water flow sensors, and automatic shutoff valves previously mentioned in the article can provide full protection of the building and can give property managers a holistic view of their building’s water usage. The primary benefit of IoT water usage sensors is that they can immediately notify property owners or managers of any irregularities, enabling prompt action and preventing any substantial damage and monetary loss.

4. Water Conservation Education

Taking steps to implement water detection and monitoring systems and upgrade to the most efficient technologies in your building can be extremely effective in conserving water. But nothing beats actually reducing water usage. To achieve this, educating occupants about water conservation practices is vital. Simple measures like installing low-flow fixtures, conducting water-saving awareness campaigns, and promoting responsible water use can substantially reduce overall water consumption. Raising awareness about the importance of efficient water management encourages occupants to actively participate in conservation efforts. Not only will water conservation education benefit your bottom line, but occupants will also feel good about pitching in to preserve California’s water supply for the future.

The Benefits of a Proactive Water Management Plan

Managing water usage and preventing leaks yields multiple benefits in terms of cost savings and environmental conservation. By promptly addressing leaks, property owners can prevent significant property damage that might cost thousands of dollars in repairs. Moreover, reduced water usage lowers utility bills and contributes to water conservation efforts, addressing the broader environmental concerns of water scarcity and sustainability.

Promoting efficient water management in commercial properties is crucial for reducing water waste and preventing financial losses caused by leaks and damages. Commercial property owners and managers can actively improve water usage practices by incorporating advanced technologies like leak sensors and water usage monitors, upgrading technologies to the most efficient models, and supporting educational initiatives within their properties.

Certified Restoration has been helping commercial property managers and owner in San Diego deal with the costly effects of water damage and mold in commercial buildings for close to 30 years.

Certified Leak and Flood was founded 2 years ago to help commercial property managers and owners take charge of their building’s water usage by providing innovative water flow sensors, leak detectors, shut off valves, cloud based dashboards and solutions. Contact us today to learn more about how you can take the achieve long term financial savings and responsible water usage with our water management and detection solutions.

Join us on Wed, July 19, 2023 11 am-12 pm (PST) for a webinar on Water Management Strategies and Solutions

Building engineers, property managers, and building owners will learn how to save money with the latest technology that can revolutionize their day-to-day operations and assist with mitigating large losses caused by water leaks and damage.

4 Tips for Commercial Property Owners to Manage Water Usage and Prevent Leaks.