Fáilte Ireland and the Irish Hotels Federation (IHF) have today (Friday 3rd August) teamed up on an initiative to promote best practice in water conservation.
The two organisations are working together to help reduce water wastage in the Irish tourism and hospitality sector with the publication of a Water Management Good Practice Guide for tourism businesses. Authored by greenhospitality.ie, the guide outlines steps that many tourism businesses are taking to conserve water and reduce usage. This now has an increased importance given the current critical level of water shortages and the recent introduction by Irish Water of night-time restrictions in Dublin and Wicklow.
Top tips for water conservation in hotels
1. Train staff on the role of water at your hotel and their role in its conservation
2. Find and eliminate leaks
3. Measure and monitor water use
4. Improve the measurement and efficiency of water usage in the laundry, kitchen leisure centre and hotel grounds plus consider investing in water efficient devices and appliances
The full guide is available to download here.
Paul Keeley, Director of Commercial Development at Fáilte Ireland said that the Guide contained two checklists to help tourism businesses conserve water and ultimately reduce costs associated with usage:
“Less than 2% of Mains Water (treated drinking water) is directly consumed in the hospitality sector with the majority used for toilets, personal washing, cleaning and food preparation. The Guide provides some easy-to-follow recommendations that can reduce water usage for both guests and staff. These include requesting guests to reuse towels and linen, making sure that staff fully load dishwashers and laundry machines and water plants and grounds with harvested or recycled water. By taking some simple steps together, we can help reduce the impact of the water restrictions and help conservation measures."
Tim Fenn, Chief Executive of the Irish Hotels Federation said that the hospitality sector is fully behind efforts to conserve water and reduce usage and that protecting the environment has always been a key priority for members.
“Over recent years, many of our members have actively invested in water conservation technologies and introduced policies and measures to reduce usage. Currently our members are actively engaging with guests and staff to ensure that they are aware of the importance of conserving water and to reduce unnecessary usage. The guide outlines a number of water management initiatives including staff training, sub-metering, installation of aerators on taps and even simple measures such as covering swimming pools at night which can reduce evaporation and total energy usage by up to 30%. Every measure undertaken will ultimately help with conservation and also reduce costs associated with water management in the long-term.”
For the latest updates on water shortages in your area, please visit the Irish Water website - www.water.ie/support/water-shortages/
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