Commercial Water Efficiency Assessment

A commercial water efficiency assessment is a structured, top-to-bottom examination of how your premises consumes water and where that consumption turns into wasted money. It is the flagship service at Water Cost Review and, for most clients, the single most cost-effective thing they will do to their utility budget all year. Unlike a quick desktop estimate, a full assessment combines hard meter data with a physical walk of the site, so the findings reflect how your building actually behaves rather than how it is supposed to.

What the assessment covers

We begin with your metered consumption history, ideally with at least twelve months of reads, and look for the tell-tale signatures of waste: a flat overnight baseline that never returns to zero, seasonal spikes that do not match occupancy, or step-changes that point to a burst or a stuck valve. We then walk the site and inspect every significant point of use — incoming main and stop valves, sub-meters, washrooms, kitchens and tea-points, plant rooms, cooling and heating systems, external taps, irrigation and any process equipment.

• Incoming supply, meter accuracy and continuous-flow (overnight) analysis
• Washrooms: WCs, urinals, taps and showers, with flow and flush-volume checks
• Kitchens, catering and staff facilities
• Heating, cooling, humidification and any closed-loop top-up
• External use: irrigation, wash-down, vehicle washing and standpipes
• Sub-metering coverage and where additional metering would pay back

From findings to firm numbers

Identifying waste is only useful if it leads to a decision. Every issue we record is quantified — how many litres it wastes, what that costs you each year at your current tariff, and what it would cost to put right. We rank the measures by payback so you can see at a glance which actions return their cost in months and which are longer-term investments. Nothing is recommended that we cannot stand behind with a number.

Typical savings

Across the sites we assess, the average identified saving sits at around 38% of annual water and wastewater spend, though the figure varies widely by sector and how well a site has been managed before. Offices with unmanaged urinals, schools with holiday baseline leaks and factories with uncontrolled process water tend to show the largest opportunities. Even well-run premises usually find a worthwhile return, most often through tariff corrections, return-to-sewer allowances and the recovery of historic overcharges.

Who it is for

The assessment suits any organisation with a meaningful water bill: multi-site retailers, manufacturers, landlords, schools and colleges, hotels, care homes, leisure operators and public-sector estates. If you occupy several premises we can prioritise the assessment around your highest-consuming or highest-risk sites first. Explore our sector-specific approach for offices, factories, schools, hotels and manufacturing sites.

What you receive

You will be sent a written report setting out your current consumption profile, every opportunity we identified, the savings and paybacks attached to each, and a clear set of next steps. Where overcharges or incorrect tariffs are found, we handle the recovery process with your water retailer on your behalf. Many clients ask us to return periodically to verify that savings have stuck and to catch any new waste before it grows — a building water survey is most valuable when it becomes a habit rather than a one-off.

To find out whether your premises has savings worth pursuing, book a free initial review. It is the quickest way to see the size of the prize before you commit to anything.