Using Dry Steam Vapor Cleaning to Conserve Water

The United States Environmental Protection Agency predicts that 36 states in the U.S. will be facing some sort of water shortage within five years.  Hotel studies have shown that a hotel guest room can use up to 200 gallons of fresh water every day.

In recent years, we have seen more hotels try to promote water conservation using various methods.  Most hotels ask that you try to reuse your towels if you are staying multiple days, only dropping them on the floor to let the maid know you would like a new towel, please...  Washing less towels means less laundry and thus less water use.

One of the other areas where hotels use a lot of water, is in cleaning the rooms and bathrooms. Most traditional steam cleaners use gallons of water a minute and cleaning solvents to get guest rooms back to looking like new.  An innovative new cleaning solution by Amerivap Systems uses only quarts of water per hour instead of gallons per minute and also does not use any chemicals.  It's called dry steam vapor.  This technology uses steam in temperatures that kills virtually all bacteria with only a 5% moisture level.  One of greatest features that hotels love about this type of cleaning is its cigarette smelling killing ability.  The device can even be used  to significantly reduce the cigarette smell in guest rooms by removing the nicotine from the walls.

Tuscan Steps it Up on Water Conservation

Tuscan Water of Tuscan, Arizona recently announced they have rebates available for residents and businesses looking to save on their water usage and add to better water conservation efforts.  Residents who install a permanent gray water irrigation system on their property are eligible for a rebate savings of one-third of the cost of the system, up to $200.  If you were wondering what gray water is, well.....  Gray water is the water that is the waste water that comes from washing your hands or taking a shower.  That water can be reused to water the lawn, instead of fresh water from Tuscan Water Company.

The water company also has a new rebate plan for High Efficiency Toilets or HETs.  This rebate is available for residents and businesses who install new 1-pint flush urinals.  The rebate is actually good for any toilet that is certified by the EPA's WaterSense program, which is any toilet that uses 1.3 gallons of water or less to flush.  Tuscan Water will give a rebate for half the price of the toilet or urinal being replaced, up to $200 per household and $100 for commercial.

New Water Usage Rates Reflect Water Use More Precisely

Precision water usage is a new policy in Jay, Maine this week.  With the adoption of the new water rating formula, some customers will be paying less for their water and sewage, some will be paying more, and some customer's rates will stay the same.  Mark Holt, Sewer Department Superintendent, said " Revenue lost by customers paying a lower fee is estimated at $62,000 and revenue gained by customers paying a higher fee would be $72,000."

The updated billing formula will use water consumption to rate how much to charge for sewage.  The base rate is going to be set at $250 for 3,200 cubic feet of water per year starting on July 1st.  Any amount above the base rate will be charged 5.58 cents per cubic foot. As an example, a customer using 18,000 cubic feet of water per year will be paying roughly $1,000 per year.  With the current formula that customer is paying about $600 for the same amount of water.  This new approach for raising customers who consume a lot of water will raise their attention and help bring water conservation awareness to the people of Maine.

The new formula also encourages customers to try and conserve water whenever they can,  Customers who are already very good at conserving water will receive a reward in the form of lower water bills.  Anyone using less than 3,200 cubic feet of water per year will see a decrease in their bill to the base rate of $250.  This is $65 less than the current minimum.

Water Conservation Tightens in California

The Sacramento-San Joaquin Bay is a man made estuary used to supply the people of the north, their crops, and wildlife.  Currently, the Bay Delta is used for a filtration point for the water for the people in Southern California, but in recent events their have been proposals to circumvent parts of the water flow to channel it south.

When everything is Hunky Dorry, the water supply is working fine, but when their is a disruption such as an earth quake, the water supply can become quickly contaminated.  This is the reason for the discussion to take some of the water from the north and divert it south.

Several interesting statistics were brought up in light of talk to divert some of the northern's water to the south.  Tom Philip, an economic strategist for the Metropolitan Water District, claimed that families in the Sacramento area averaged 248 gallons per day while Philp's claimed communities in Southern California, like Irvine, only used 100 gallons a day.  He also brought up a point that in Melbourne, Australia rains as water conservation king with only 40 gallons per day.  We think we could all learn a lesson about water conservation from them.

Track Your Water Usage

Here at the TheKitchenFaucet.com, we have always been strong advocates of water conservation.  The Koolhaus Faucet, designed by Daniel Dobrogorsky, is a new designer bathroom or lavatory faucet which tracks how much water runs through it.  Currently there is not really any way to monitor water usage except for a flow meter on the side of your house.  Making this information readily available to the user would make most people more aware of how much water they are using.  

The Koolhaus Faucet displays its daily usage information on its LCD display and the data can even be routed to a computer to keep a detailed log of how much water they are using. Individual water gauges can also be installed in other faucets in the house and transmitted via Bluetooth back to the main faucet.

Research indicates that 51% of all water used in suburban homes is in the bathroom.  This gives a pretty good indication of how much water is being used and also how it can be saved.  We have a poll on our website asking visitors if they turn off the faucet while brushing there teeth.  Maybe more people would say yes, if they had one of these cool faucets.