I pay water bill for my 16 unit. Any ideas on how can I reduce water bill?

I pay water bill for my 16 unit. Any ideas on how can I reduce water bill? Would welcome recommendations on shower heads , tub spouts, or toilet tanks.

You can contact all your local utilities and they will provide this information

Check all apartments to make sure there aren’t any leaky faucets, running toilets, etc. also, depending on your state you may be able to submeter so you can bill the residents for their exact usage.

Besides replacing old leaky faucets/shower with water saving fixtures, what about exterior hose bibs? Does your residents have access to the hose where they can use water to wash cars/ fill kiddy pools? If so lock those, that will help! Reduce watering the lawn(if you can) replace inefficient water heaters. Lastly, if you don’t already, charge tenants a water pass through fee of example $50 per unit...

The one thing that I would say- if your main lines are older (clay or cast iron) be careful with low flow toilets. Those seem like a great idea until your main sewer lines start backing up frequently because there’s not enough water to keep the lines clear.

Pressure reducing valve on the main, low flow toilets, shower heads and aerators.

If you have hoe bibs outside, put a lock on them. Don’t allow car washing on property

We installed low pressure aerators in all kitchen and bath faucets thanks to the Focus on Energy project and it was done for free for any building with more than four units. It helped!

Start pro rating the water bill back to the residents it will reduce water usage considerably

...and while you are doing this, consider sub metering each unit individually. You will get your money back in 18 months or less.

I solved this problem for a client 3 years ago, we found a company that would pro-rate the water. we had to install the equipment ( about 900 per unit, it was a complicated job ). results were amazing, water usage dropped in excess of 75%. people stopped doing daily laundry, and long showers. then we were able to discover all the leaks and fix them too. Long story short, we were able to change all the valves later on and reduce our insurance rate because we could prove to them on a chart that with the upgrades the water risk was reduced. the payback for us was less than 5 years.

If the resident's current lease says that the water bill is included in the rent, better have a plan in place and know what the city/state says about changing horses in mid stream

Yes charge your tenants water and sewer

Inspect apartments for portable washing machines if there are no washer and dryer in the apartment or you don't offer washer and dryer hookups.

Any recommendations on a good low flow shower head used that didn’t piss of tenants?

You will need to buy low flow aerators for all faucets, low flow shower heads, and they make flappers with an adjustable float that will limit the amount of water per flush.

Tub spouts do nothing... they will fill the tub to their liking regardless of any changes made.

We have good success with these shower heads. www.amazon.com/Niagara-Conservation-N291...o9PMDTUtSO13_dyjCm9U

Hello,

New to this blog, but based on 25 years experience, water/sewer usage drops 25 to 35% after sub-metering.

"We're here to answer your sub-metering questions"