PREPARING FOR CHANGE

Climate-proof your tourism business

What could you do

• Be aware of the current water status in your area

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• Collect rainwater for use in the garden

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• Install a greywater recycling stystem to collect and treat wastewater from showers, baths and wash basins.  The water can then be used to flush toilets, water gardens and sometimes feed washing machines

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• Increase your water efficiency by following these operational and practical top tips from Envirowise: MONITOR - Check the meter serial number - make sure you are billed for your meter.
  - Always measure and monitor the amount of water you use. Compare water use each month so you can identify any unusual patterns. Also compare water use against production output for manufacturing companies and against staff numbers for service sectors.
  - Appoint a water monitor within your organisation to undertake periodic site walk-overs to identify water minimisation opportunities.
  COMMUNICATE - Make sure staff are fully aware of the importance of water minimisation.
  -Train employees how to use water efficiently and establish a recognition and reward programme for employees and teams who do an outstanding job.
  PRACTICAL MEASURES - Ensure pipes are well insulated to protect against frost damage.
  - In companies where the urinals operate without flush control, saving of over £3,800/year in water and sewerage costs can be achieved by installing passive infrared (PIR) sensors at a cost of about £350 and with a payback period of 5 weeks.
  - Spray taps can reduce water use by 60 - 70% compared with conventional taps.
  - Tap aerators and flow restrictors can save money. Considering that a tap is being used 20 times a day for a time period of 15 seconds, by fitting a tap aerator, at a cost of £5/tap, the water and sewerage cost savings would be about £13/tap/year.
  -When purchasing new equipment, take its water efficiency into account. It may be more expensive to buy water efficient equipment, but it may have a short payback period due to the water savings achieved.
  - Check taps - A 5mm continual drip from a single tap can cost more than £900/year in water and wastewater treatment costs.

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• Advise customers on how to minimise water use via good communication, and explain what you have done to help reduce water requirements on site

• Make your swimming pool as water efficient as possible by; - keeping it covered when not in use (this saves 95% of water lost to evaporation, as well as preventing accidents, reducing cleaning needs and conserving heat); - lowering the water level to reduce losses from splashing; - lowering the temperature to reduce evaporation; - checking filters to reduce backwashing

Checklist

The checklist guides you through a series of questions to help you assess your business’ preparedness and identify practical actions you can take. Go to Checklist

Top Tips

The most important things you can do to climate-proof your tourism business. Go to Top Tips

Case Studies

Forward-thinking businesses are already preparing for climate change. To find out how, read our case studies