The Smart Way To Control Water Consumption In Your Stadium
Steve Nurdin, marketing manager at Cannon Hygiene, explains how Smart Water Meters could help stadium managers to save millions of litres of water annually and dramatically cut water bills.
As football stadium managers know all too well, ‘The Beautiful Game’ requires a lot of work behind the scenes to create the perfect environment for fans and footballers. From maintaining grass on the pitch to ensuring that every fan has access to piping-hot food at half-time, the average event takes a lot of effort to get right.
Taking control of a stadium’s water use can naturally fall down the list of priorities as a result. But there are a wealth of reasons to do so – reducing costs, acting more sustainably and understanding how to spot problems like leaks quickly. The latest technology on the market – Smart Water Meters – could make it much easier for stadium managers to do this by putting this knowledge at their fingertips.
Stadium water use
As huge entertainment venues, stadiums use large volumes of water on a regular basis. Toilets and urinals used by thousands of fans, kitchen sinks, pitch-watering systems and changing rooms for players all add up to a vast quantity of water. This can cost stadiums hundreds of thousands of pounds every year, especially if these systems continuously use water even during periods of inactivity.
The difficulty most stadium managers face in trying to act more sustainably or reducing cost is understanding where to start. Finding out where water is being used, when it’s being used and what can be done to reduce waste hasn’t been an easy task previously. Smart Water Meters can now provide this level of insight through small units attached to pipework that record water flow.
Immediately, these devices will tell you where water is being used. For stadiums, washrooms tend to use huge quantities of water – particularly urinals. Older systems flush water constantly to try and eliminate bad smells and clear uric salts. However, this is hugely inefficient and not particularly effective at maintaining hygiene either. It is no longer true that the more water you flush through a water system, the more hygienic it is. Modern urinals, with microbiological cartridges, keep systems clean even if water isn’t actively flowing through them.
For many stadiums, this investment might be difficult to justify. However, with a Smart Water Meter you can see exactly how much water is being wasted every day. It can show that a quick return on investment could be possible purely through savings of water bills.
And that’s just one example. Smart Water Meters provide insight across an entire estate – from grass watering systems to sinks in kitchens and even down to individual pipework. It makes it easier to prioritise investment at a time when sustainability is becoming an increasingly important part of every business’ operations.
Spotting cyclical patterns
Stadiums also have cyclical water usage patterns which should be easy to identify with a Smart Water Meter. The technology records periods of high and low water usage allowing facilities teams to pinpoint exactly where this water was used via an online tool.
It helps to understand what normal looks like.
For instance, you’d expect that water usage would rise during half-time and full-time when fans use toilet facilities. However, water usage should then start to reduce after the match. If a Smart Water Meter is recording a large amount of water usage outside of fixture times or when pitches aren’t being watered, then it can identify that money is literally going down the drain.
Going back to new urinal systems, when these are used in combination with a Smart Water Meter they can be set to flush only during peak periods – for instance before a match, during half-time and full-time. Because these systems only need to be flushed around four times a day instead of continuous flushing, it can lead to thousands of litres being saved every day.
An intelligent defence
Smart Water Meters can also help spot potential faults far earlier too. If a pipe in a kitchen has burst out of season, water could leak for days on end and cause significant structural damage leading to costly repairs and damp treatment.
The data recorded by a Smart Water Meter will help stadium managers to spot these issues far earlier and mitigate costs as a result. Systems can be set to send out text alerts to managers when water rises above an expected level, meaning that the risk of leaks or burst pipes can always be monitored.
Future-proof your stadium
The next global sustainability challenge is predicted to be water shortages. According to research by the UN, two billion people live in countries experiencing water shortages with this set to increase as the problem worsens globally. Water sustainability is rising up corporate agendas as a result. Looking to the future it’s not out of the question for bills to naturally rise as water supplies diminish and businesses could face fines for wasted water.
Using smart water meter technology is a simple but effective way for football stadium managers to operate more responsibly. At the same time, it can create huge savings from day one – allowing clubs to reinvest this money into teams and fans.
