EarthCheck praises Asian hotel operators for water conservation efforts
12 October 2010
A number of hotel operators in Asia Pacific are outperforming their competitors in saving water, according to a new study by environmental management company EarthCheck.
The study, which benchmarked water conservation efforts, found that several hotels in the region have been trialing new ways to minimize water intensity of their goods and services with impressive results.
The luxury health resort Chiva-Som in Thailandwas found to outperform its peers by 80.6%.
Brian Anderson, Chiva-Som’s sustainable development coordinator attributed the result to its waste water treatment system and reuse policy.
“Spas generally use a lot of water but even with our high number of treatment hours, we still manage to maintain low water consumption,” he explained. “We collect waste water and rainfall within the Resort and process it through tertiary treatment. This treated water is then stored in the Resort lake until used for irrigating gardens and hosing down sidewalks.”
Another property cited by the study was the Melia Bali Villas and Spa Resort, which reduces the volume of its water delivery through fixtures such as taps and showers.
“By simply altering the incoming mains water pressure by 30% (from 3.8 kg/cm2 to 2.7 kg/cm2), the savings were achieved at no cost and resulted in a reduction of 48,000 kL of water usage,” said Gede Suarsa of Melia Bali. “This delivers us with an ongoing annual savings of US$40,000; an amount that can be reinvested or go directly to the bottom line.”
Other hotels cited by the study were The Taj Residency Hotel which has installed a collection tank on its industrial-sized dishwasher, enabling water from a final rinse to be reused in the next one.
“While capital outlay is often used as an excuse for inaction, these examples clearly demonstrate how water conservation is an investment that should be made by smart managers. Considerable savings are achievable with little or no capital investment, and actions taken today can result in ongoing benefits that are seen reflected in the health of the host environment and triple bottom line,” commented EarthCheck in a statement.
