Commercial and Industrial Water Usage

Did you know it takes eight gallons of water to produce one tomato? And one hundred and twenty gallons to grow one egg? Or what about the sixty thousand gallons of water to make a car? Commercial and industrial usage of water is mind boggling. While in some cases water is a necessary component to producing the food and equipment we need to be comfortable, there is definitely room for cutting out water waste. Here is an overview of some key industries and the areas in which they use water.

Office buildings and other commercial establishments typically use water for rest rooms and other domestic uses (like water fountains), cooling, heating, and landscaping. Some buildings also have included restaurant or cafeteria facilities which are another source of water usage. Of these, landscaping is the most obvious choice for water conservation, but even the domestic availabilities should be considered. Low-flow toilets and recycling water fountains are just a couple of the many considerations a business should take to reduce its water consumption. Landscaping purposes are a great source of water loss and should be closely scrutinized to ensure minimal water runoff and contamination.

Computer and electronics manufacturers have made our lives much more convenient in recent years, but they too are guilty of water waste. Rinsing in the printed circuit board and electroplating industry is a necessary process, however it does consumer quite a bit of water. Rinsing and cleaning silicon wafers at semiconductor manufacturing plants is another example of water use. Unlike agricultural demands that can use non-potable water, these types of manufacturing plants must use pure water since their products are extremely sensitive to even microscopic contaminants.

Food processing companies typically use water for washing and sanitation, cooling and heating, processing food products and other miscellaneous functions. Typically, the opportunities for water conservation include: reusing water in another process, (i.e., using rinse water in cooling towers), modifying processes to consume less water, recycling water within a specific process (where health regulations allow), and modifying cooling towers to recycle water.