Companies look to Water Conservation as a Way to Cut Costs

In tough economic times, many companies are looking to water conservation as a way to lower costs.  When we talk about ways to conserve water, mostly we are talking to the consumers( or residents).  It is true that as a whole, individual people consume the most water.  When it comes to putting water conservation techniques into practice and seeing results fast, industry is at the top.  A business that pays people to get things done with a governing body at the top to oversee that water saving practices are followed through, can show some pretty good results on the water conservation side.  A couple of local businesses in St. Cloud, MN have gotten pretty good at saving water.

A company called Electrolux Home Products has been able to almost cut their water usage in half down 28 million gallons from 62 million in 2007.  Tony Evans, a spokes person for the company says they were able to lower water consumption by "eliminating  a painting system that used a lot of water and using prepainted steel instead and water used for rinsing equipment is captured and reused."

CentraCare, one of the towns local hospitals, has been able to cut their water usage by 60 percent.  They have incorporated a larger sterilization department that is able to reuse water by filtering and heating to an extremely high temperature.  They have also switched to low-flow faucets and some water saving washing machines.  With a water bill of over $304K last year, they have every reason to want to save some water.