Water and sewerage charges for businesses

You can limit the environmental impact of your business by reducing the amount of water you use. Since Northern Ireland Water will charge both to supply water and to take it away, cutting the amount you use also helps to reduce your costs.

How to reduce water consumption

To limit your water consumption, make sure that you:

• check the supply pipe is the appropriate size for your needs
• check meter readings and monitor bills regularly
• check pipes for leaks, especially in cold weather
• purchase water-efficient equipment

The type of measures you could consider to reduce your water use will depend on the type of activities that your business carries out.

Office-based businesses can fit washroom devices such as push taps, spray taps, cistern displacement blocks, sensor flushing controls, etc. See save water at commercial premises .

Industrial businesses may be able to reuse process water or grey water from washing and cleaning equipment, or investigate non-mains water sources, eg rainwater. Save water at industrial premises.

Sewage and trade effluent

The costs to businesses of having their sewage and trade effluent treated can be significantly higher than the cost of the incoming water.

You can reduce wastewater costs in a number of ways:

• reduce the overall amount of wastewater you generate
• reduce the strength of any trade effluent you produce
• reuse wastewater wherever possible