Can Devon businesses do more to protect national water supplies?
Exeter-based Smarti Environmental, the UK's leading waterless urinal provider, is urging businesses to play their part in the battle against needless water wastage following World Water Day and the Environment Secretary Minister Rebecca Pow’s call for the greater adoption of water efficient products.
Last year, as part of the Government’s drive to protect national water supplies, seven new areas were designated as being under serious water stress. These include the Bournemouth area of South West Water, the Isles of Scilly, Severn Trent Water, South Staffordshire Water, Wessex Water, Portsmouth Water, and Cambridge Water. Each are due to publish water resources management plans (WMP) in 2022, that consider all options to manage demand more effectively – including metering and greater leakage reduction.
Smarti Environmental, which enables existing flushing urinals to go waterless in just a day, is encouraging Devon businesses and organisations to urgently review their use of flushing urinals in the battle against the UK’s growing water crisis. Its research shows that there are currently around 3.5 million water-supplied urinals in the UK, which collectively waste 217 billion litres of water each year, equivalent to 87 thousand Olympic-sized swimming pools.
To encourage the move to flushless urinals, Smarti Environmental is offering large organisations with 100 or more urinals within their group, a free washroom trial for 3-months, including free installation of its retro-fit waterless valves. Smaller businesses can also benefit from savings of more than 50% compared to the cost of running conventional flushing urinals.
As part of its installation service, Smarti Environmental is also offering to replace blocked or partially blocked pipework – the result of the chemical reaction between urine and water in flushing urinals. Each year, blocked or partially blocked urinal pipes account for thousands of floods in gents across the UK, resulting in expensive plumbing and clean up bills.
Kimberley Hill, Sales Manager at Smarti Environmental, commented: “Businesses have a key part to play in reducing needless water waste, and one of the simplest and most cost-effective steps is to switch to waterless urinals. This not only saves 100,000 litres of water per urinal, per year, but it also cuts related costs by more than half, and CO2 by 105kg per urinal. To put that into perspective, if all urinals in the UK went waterless, that would be the equivalent of removing 100,000 diesel cars from the road.”
Kimberly Hill added: “As an accredited Carbon Neutral Business, we’re doing all we can to make a positive difference to the environment, and that includes the use of environment-friendly enzyme technology. This ends the need for harsh cleaning materials, and avoids pollutants from entering the waste-water system, further enhancing the environmental benefits of waterless urinals. For organisations looking to a net zero future, we provide part of the solution to achieving this."
Commenting on the seven water company areas identified as being under serious water stress, Environment Agency Chair, Emma Howard Boyd, said: “Fresh water is the world’s most precious commodity and everyone needs to wake up to the fact that there is less of it to go around. If we continue to operate as usual, by 2050 the amount of water available in England could be reduced by 10 to 15 percent, some rivers could have between 50 and 80 percent less water during the summer, and we will not be able to meet the demands of people, industry and agriculture.”
Smarti Environmental’s waterless urinals are used both by private and public sector organisations including the NHS. Its retro-fit, waterless one-way multi-valve technology traps and prevent all odours from drains, breaks down all biofilms and uric salts in pipework to prevent blocked pipes, and stops the spread of viruses through the absence of airborne aerosol germs created by flushing urinals. Made from fully recyclable materials, they fit 98% of standard urinals with no need to change urinal bowls, and reduce the annual running cost of a typical three bay urinal by between £630 and £1,230 a year.
Used in conjunction with Smarti’s eco-friendly, odour-eating and bacteria/virus busting SteriKleen surface spray, urinal cleaning is reduced to once every 24 hours, consisting of a wipe, spray and walk away process that leaves urinals clean and fresh. This makes switching to waterless urinals simple and easy, enabling businesses to Build Back Better and Greener.
