Water Audit
                     WATER AUDIT
INTRODUCTION
Conducting a water audit, also known as a 
water assessment, is a vital step for any 
organization that wants to take water 
management and water efficiency seriously.
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ELIMINATE WASTE
This process is designed to document all the 
ways your facility currently uses water, how 
much water you typically consume, and 
what you could do to eliminate waste and 
lower your facility’s water bill.
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TAKE INVENTORY OF 
YOUR WATER USE
To understand your facility’s water usage, you need to 
identify every fixture and every piece of equipment 
that uses water. You’ll also need to document:
Flow rates
Any water-saving features, like flow restrictors
Whether specific fixtures or equipment use hot or cold 
water
If they require treated or filtered water
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SPECIALIZED EQUIPMENT
For specialized equipment like evaporative 
cooling towers and boilers, you’ll want to 
make a note of how much make-up water 
they use. 
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COOLING SYSTEMS
 Refrigeration units also use different types 
of cooling systems, some of which are more 
water efficient than others. Make a note of 
any machinery that relies on single-pass 
cooling.
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TRACK YOUR WATER 
METERS
Once you know where the water is flowing, you 
need to know how much is flowing each month. 
Your main water meter from your water utility 
tells you how much water is going into your 
facility, but ideally your specialized equipment 
like cooling towers, boilers, irrigation systems, 
and refrigeration units will have designated 
submeters, so you can track how much water is 
going to those specific processes.
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DETECT ABNORMAL 
USAGE
Knowing how much water you typically use is 
crucial if you want to be able to detect 
abnormal usage. 
Unfortunately, if you have to manually check 
your water meters to learn how much water is 
being used, that means you’re often going to 
learn about water waste events, leaks, and 
equipment problems (like scaling, 
contamination, and freezing) after the fact.
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 ESTABLISH PRACTICES TO 
MONITOR AND MAINTAIN 
YOUR WATER USAGE
Once you’ve identified all the ways your 
facility uses water, it’s time to make sure that 
someone is responsible for monitoring and 
maintaining all your fixtures and equipment. 
Depending on your facility and your staff’s 
expertise, you may want to assign monitoring 
duties based on location or fixture type.
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SET GOALS TO IMPROVE 
YOUR WATER USAGE
After you have a solid grasp of how your 
facility uses water, you can start to look at 
ways to reduce waste and set realistic, 
measurable goals. 
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IDENTIFY COST-EFFECTIVE 
IMPROVEMENTS
Hopefully, as you’ve taken inventory of how 
your facility uses water, you’ve generated a 
list of areas where your facility would benefit 
the most from more efficient equipment or 
processes. 
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