Help and advice for industrial estates and business parks

With water often used throughout industrial estates by a variety of tenants for different business uses, it can be hard to manage and keep track of. We’ve pulled together the below information to hopefully make this easier for you.

Encouraging unit user behaviour

Different tenants will have varying levels of education around how to save water and what not to flush down the drain.

With our range of water saving posters that you can download here, unit owners and tenants can take responsibility for reporting leaky loos, leaks and using the small flush.

If your tenants regularly flush items other than the 3 Ps – pee, poo and paper – down the toilet, then you can also find posters to download here that educate around what not to flush.

Finding leaks

As with most industrial estates and business parks, you’ll likely have an extensive network of water pipes getting water to units across your site, which makes you susceptible to leaks over time.

Quieter periods when units are closed are the perfect opportunity to scrutinise water meter readings and identify any leaks. Read our how to guide here on how to test for a leak on your site.

If you suspect you have a leak but are struggling to locate it due to your extensive pipework, then you can install isolation valves throughout your site to narrow down leaks into specific zones. This doesn’t cost as much as you might think and results in a great return on investment if it saves you time searching for a costly leak. This is especially useful for larger industrial estates.

You can also install sub-meters on individual units in order to understand how and where water is used throughout your estate.

Make sure you have available contact details for local contractors who can repair leaks on your private supply network. Where this private network has very larger diameter pipes, you should consider whether fittings would be readily available, if not you may need to consider keeping spares or have the appropriate contracts in place to source these at short notice.

Wrapping up for winter

If your site is going to be closed over the winter, it’s a great idea to wrap any external pipework with lagging kits before you close the site. If you have a burst pipe while nobody is on site, the leak could cause a lot of damage.

You also may want to drain the water network over the winter to reduce the chances of a burst. If only certain parts of the site are closed during the winter, consider installing stop taps to these areas so the supplies can be isolated.

If a water supply is critical to your business you should consider onsite storage facilities or put arrangements in place with a third party to provide tankers during an emergency. We will assist you if we can but during cold weather our resources may be in use on our own network and we won’t always be able to help.

Find out more about how to prepare your site for winter here.

Taking advantage of data logging

If you have several sites or have difficulty accessing your sites’ water meters to read it regularly, it can be really tricky to manage your water consumption.

The answer could be data logging. Water monitoring equipment is connected to the water meter, and you can easily see live analysis of your usage online. You’ll be able to track your water use at a glance, enabling you to spot any potential problems such as leaks and deal with them quickly and efficiently.

Find out more about our data logging service here.

Water saving tips

Here are some generic water saving tips to help you reduce your water consumption across your site.