How to monitor water use in your business

Once you have gathered all of the initial information together for your water balance, you can make a plan of your worksite, showing where water is used and disposed of. You should include the position of water meters and flow meters, and remember to include locations where there is a high level of evaporation, such as heating systems or laundry rooms.

If you manufacture products that include water, include those in your diagram. You are looking at the major activities that use water in your business, so you need to identify where:

• water comes in
• there is a function and a use of water
• water or waste leaves the site

Your drawing will give you the overall picture, and may enable you to identify quick wins where you can make immediate savings for relatively little cost.

In a block diagram, each major activity is represented by a box with a list of the major water uses and an arrow showing the source of the water and how it is disposed of. You can put water inputs in a list at the top of the diagram with outputs at the bottom.

Use the same units throughout - for example cubic metres per day or week - and try to make as complete a picture as you can, using the information you have gathered from the initial review. You might not be able to account for all of your water use, but you may be able to fill in gaps by adding detail to your water balance by carrying out more measurement and investigation - see how to finalise the detail of your water balance.