Hotels, motels and restaurants in Charlotte County can conserve water with the help of three Southwest Florida Water Management District programs.
The District’s Water Conservation Hotel And Motel Program (Water CHAMP), Water Program for Restaurant Outreach (Water PRO), and Charlotte County Toilet Rebate Program are designed to help businesses conserve water through training and retrofitting.
Water CHAMP
Water CHAMP is the District’s linens and towel reuse program. By implementing the program, the hotel or motel management agrees to launder linens every third day of a guest’s stay unless the guest requests otherwise.
As part of the program, the District will supply free educational materials for guest rooms and employees as well as provide the hotels and motels with educational workshops on additional ways to save water.
Linen and towel reuse programs have become highly popular in the hotel industry because they can save a significant amount of water, staff time and money as well as minimize the amount of detergents that enter the environment. Becoming a Water CHAMP property can save up to 50 gallons of water per occupied room per day.
At this time, 410 of the 904 hotels and motels throughout the District’s 16-county region participate in Water CHAMP.
Water PRO
Water PRO is a free program that helps restaurants conserve water by educating staff and customers. By implementing Water PRO, the restaurant management agrees to only serve water upon request, display water conservation materials on tables, conduct self-audits and train staff.
“Water PRO invites restaurants and their patrons to save water and money through simple and efficient actions,” said Robin Grantham, Water PRO coordinator. “By joining Water PRO and installing low-flow spray valves, restaurants can save up to $1,320 per year.”
The District will supply free educational materials to participating restaurants, including children’s coloring sheets, table materials and coasters. The District will also provide the restaurants with self-audit checklists and educational workshops on additional ways to save water. Replacing spray nozzles with sink aerators, installing low-flow toilets and reducing the flow in dripper wells and continuous flow faucets next to ice cream and butter scoop troughs are just a few ways restaurants can conserve water.
For more information about Water PRO or Water CHAMP, please contact Robin Grantham at 1-800-423-1476, ext. 4782.
Charlotte County Toilet Rebate Program
The Charlotte County Toilet Rebate Program is a cooperatively funded program between the county and the District’s Peace River Basin Board.
The program offers rebates to multi-family residences and commercial businesses to replace high-volume toilets with water efficient low-flow toilets or high-efficiency toilets. Low-flow toilets use 1.6 gallons per flush or less while high-efficiency toilets use about 1.3 gallons per flush.
Approximately 770 toilet rebates of $100 are available to multi-family residential and commercial customers through May 15, 2009. Multi-family customers can replace up to two toilets per household.
This project is estimated to provide potable water savings of 18,480 gallons per day or 6,745,200 gallons per year. This is the first year of a potential 5-year effort, which may expand to include rebates for single-family homes as well.
This program is expected to cost $100,100. As part of the agreement, Charlotte County will receive up to $50,050 in grant funding from the District’s Peace River Basin Board.
The project will include educational materials that focus on leak detection and proper flapper replacement to help consumers maximize the water-saving capabilities of their toilets.
For more information about the Charlotte County Toilet Rebate Program, interested businesses should call 1-888-843-9832.