Online version: PDF - DTIE

UNIT 4: ENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT SYSTEMS
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Environment Status Review on Water and Wastewater
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WATER FACTSHEET
• Water can account for a significant part of purchasing costs in hospitality businesses.
• Most businesses are supplied with water by utility companies who purify the water
before distribution. Some businesses (especially in rural areas) may draw supplies
directly from surface waters (rivers, streams etc.) or aquifers. In this case, water
purification may need to be conducted on-site.
• The various uses of water in hospitality businesses are:
- Hot and cold water for bathrooms, kitchen and laundry;
- Hot and cold water for toilets;
- Cold and hot water for HVAC;
- Cold water for drinking;
- Cold water for fire fighting.
• In most businesses, drinking water is drawn from the mains, whilst non-drinking
water is drawn from storage tanks.
• Over 50% of water is used in guestrooms and kitchens. Other major users are
laundries and public toilets.
• Hot water is held in, and distributed from, hot-water storage tanks. In larger facilities,
separate boilers and storage tanks may be used to heat and hold water supplies
at different temperatures. An alternative is to use location-specific water heaters to
increase temperatures as required.
• Much energy is needed to heat and store hot water, and lowering hot water
consumption will reduce water-heating costs.
• Different degrees of hot water are required for different purposes. Typical water
heating thresholds for hospitality businesses are:
- Guest rooms 50°C
- Laundry 40-80°C
- Kitchens 60°C
• Wastewater should be directed to sewage treatment plants for treatment before
discharge. Yet large volumes of wastewater are discharged without treatment in both
industrialised and non-industrialised countries.
• Water treatment is expensive, and is usually charged by volume discharged.
• Biological treatment ponds could be set up if no municipal sewer is available.