NWS has completed water conservation projects for numerous Colleges and Universities across the United States.

 

The Challenge

Facing increasing water and sewer rates with a plumbing infrastructure that was rapidly aging, the State of Tennessee looked for answers to reduce escalating costs in six of their state-run universities.

The In-depth Analysis
The state decided to include water conservation as a part of their energy services contract to upgrade these six facilities

Most of the buildings on these campuses were built in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Like many major state institutions, these universities had experienced funding shortfalls that often resulted in an “as needed” approach to maintenance and upgrades to plumbing systems.

National Water Services was brought in to audit these facilities and to determine the feasibility of such a project. After performing an Investment-grade audit, NWS determined that a domestic water conservation program would fit their needs to:

1.    Provide more efficient equipment, thereby reducing water and sewer costs.
2.    Install new equipment with an estimated life span of more than 30 years.
3.    Provide new equipment that could generate a payback that would pay for itself relatively quickly.

The Solution
Conducted in six phases over a one-year period, the program included retrofit and replacement of domestic water system components throughout the main campuses, as well as several satellite campuses. All installations were done during school hours with no interruption to university students or staff.

NWS performed the following installations in the six facilities:

 

  • 1,300 water closets were replaced with 1.6 gallon per flush models
  • 389 urinals were retrofitted to be more efficient
  • 1,600 faucets were reduced to 0.5 gallon per minute
  • 55 showers were replaced with more efficient models


Following the installation, NWS commissioned these facilities, delivering measurement and verification reports that determined the total combined savings to be approximately 27 million gallons of water per year, reducing annual usage by more than 30% and producing an annual savings of $195,000.