Water Hogs: Inlander’s Top 10 Water Users List
August 27th, 2009
Inlander, Carey Jackson
In a perfect world, The Inlander could be a lot more obnoxious. We’d be able to access individual residential water usage records and blow the whistle on your water-wasting neighbors. Sadly, Washington state privacy laws stand in our way.
But we are able to tell you which commercial entities are sucking the most water out of the Rathdrum Prairie-Spokane Valley Aquifer. Many of the businesses on this list are back from last year, but there are few changes.
IN BRIEF:
Who’s new to the list? Esmeralda Golf Course. The golf course rose from No. 12 to 10 on the list — despite lowering usage by 1,311,992 gallons over the past year.
Who left? The city of Airway Heights. The city went from No.3 to 43, decreasing its water usage by a grand total of 136,150,960 gallons — a whopping 85.3 percent — between this year and last.
Whose usage has increased? Gonzaga University, Hollister-Stier Laboratories, Inland Northwest Dairies and Spokane Community College. Hollister-Stier increased the most, having almost doubled its usage from 47,438,908 to 91,111,960 gallons over the past two years.
Whose decreased? The city of Spokane Wastewater Treatment Plant, Esmeralda Golf Course, Sacred Heart Medical Center, San Souci West Mobile Homes, Spokane Falls Community College and Qualchan Golf Course.
How much water did the Top 10 use this year? 978,368,616 gallons of water from June 2008 to May 2009, according to city utility records. That’s about 4.7 percent of the total 20,994,254,394 used by the city as a whole — a pretty big chunk for just 10 commercial users. The good news is that total water usage by the top users decreased by 96,817,056 gallons from 2008. (CJ)
1. Sacred Heart Medical Center
Gallons used: 173,794,060
2008 usage and rank: 180,076,512; 2
“Sometimes we refer to ourselves as the city of Sacred Heart,” says Manager of Facilities Philip Kercher. The hospital has an average 500 guests a night, plus visitors and staff, eating, showering and generating laundry.
But the biggest drains on water usage at Sacred Heart are the heating and cooling systems. Plus, hospital staff wash their hands a lot to prevent spreading germs and bacteria.
Nevertheless, the hospital has reduced water usage by almost 7,000,000 gallons since last year. This is primarily due to some improvements made on the steam boiler and air conditioner, replacing water-cooled equipment with air-cooled equipment.
2. City of Spokane Wastewater
Treatment Plant
Gallons used: 163,819,480
Previous usage and rank: 189,431,000; 1
The Wastewater Treatment Plant processes about 40 million gallons of sewage water every day, but it still needs some water from the city in order to take care of business. The plant needs water for the personal uses of its employees, drinking water and the like, as well as water for cooling machinery, mixing cleaning substances and for the facility’s lab.
The plant has been steadily reducing usage of city water by testing new methods of filtration and reusing plant water for watering greenery on the plant grounds and for cooling and chemical mixing purposes. According to Tim Pelton, the plant’s administrative superintendent, the “ultimate goal is to only use city water for drinking purposes.” The new technology should be in use at the plant within 5 to 10 years.
3. Gonzaga University
Gallons used: 134,272,732
Previous usage and rank: 116,169,636; 4
Like Sacred Heart, Gonzaga can be thought of as a “small city,” says Ken Sammons, the school’s director of plant services. “We have on-campus housing, dining, athletic facilities, soccer and baseball fields, recreation fields, etc. We have over 120 acres on the campus. Each day students, faculty and staff come to the university to study, teach, and work.”
Increased enrollment and the addition of two apartment buildings, along with new the Paccar Center for Applied Science, a new soccer complex and the Legacy Field practice field all contributed to the campus’ 18,103,096 gallon increase in water usage over the past year.
4. Hollister-Stier Laboratories
Gallons used: 91,111,960
Previous usage and rank; 63,975,692; 8
Two years ago, Hollister-Stier was ranked 16th. Marketing Communications Manager Alison Marlyn says the company’s rise on the list is related to the company’s growth. “A lot water goes into our product, allergenic extracts,” she says. And, “we have to sanitize everything, which creates the largest amount of wastewater.”
In efforts to reduce usage, Hollister-Stier is investigating the possibility of watering SYSA fields with wastewater that’s not sterile enough for the company to reuse. Water usage is also tracked with meters. Marlyn says, “We try to be as efficient as possible.”
5. Spokane Community College
Gallons used: 81,980,800
Previous used and rank: 62,697,360; 10
Each of Spokane’s community colleges covers about 140 acres and serves a bunch of students. “I don’t know if people realize how many people are here every day, all day,” says Anne Tucker, marketing executive for the schools. About 7,200 students and 607 employees spend their days at SCC and 5,500 students and 500 employees at SFCC.
SFCC has more green space with the colleges’ major athletic fields but uses less water. Tucker doesn’t know “specifically” why SCC uses more water, but she suspects that it may be due to water leaks at the SCC campus and the difference in classes offered.
“Seventy percent of class at SCC are professional-technical, so there’s culinary arts, machining, fire sciences,” she says, all classes that require water for class activities.
The colleges are working to reduce water usage with new LEED standard buildings and renovations, along with low-water usage water fixtures and landscaping.
6. Inland Northwest Dairies
Gallons used: 78,320,836
Previous usage and rank: 62,967,388; 9
The dairy didn’t respond to multiple calls and messages from The Inlander, so why water usage increased this year is unclear. Based on information we got last year, the dairy uses most of its water cleaning the equipment used to handle milk and milk products. Milk is sticky and doesn’t rinse off easily; lots of water is needed to get the machines squeaky clean after they’ve processed a lot milk or sour cream.
7. San Souci West Mobile Homes
Gallons used: 73,588,240
Previous usage and rank: 86,042,440; 5
That a mobile home park would be in the Top 10 makes some sense — it’s like a big neighborhood. “You’ve got people watering grass, watering plants, taking showers,” says John Bailey, in charge of maintenance at San Souci.
Bailey chalks up San Souci’s approximately 13 million gallon usage reduction over the past year to fixing leaks, “five or six,” and water conservation efforts. Residents have been asked to water lawns less and only at certain times, and to take fewer baths.
“We encourage people, but when it gets hot, people go crazy on their flowers,” laughs Bailey.
8. Spokane Falls Community College
Gallons used: 70,020,280
Previous usage and rank: 84,174,684; 6
See No. 5
9. Esmeralda Golf Course
Gallons used: 56,482,228
Previous usage and rank: 57,794,220; 12
See No. 10 below.
10. Qualchan Golf Course
Gallons usage: 54,978,000
Previous usage and rank: 70,012,800; 7
Hundred-acre Qualchan uses a lot of water, but it’s not for lack of trying to reduce, which the golf course has done by about 15 million gallons over the past year. Course Superintendent Mark Nord explains the reduction as the result of several factors. Spokane golf courses use weather stations to calculate exactly how much water the grass needs each day. “We only put out as much water as the plant needs,” says Nord.
Qualchan also uses about 5,000 gallons of reused water from the city’s Wastewater Treatment Plant on the southern part of the golf course and cut the amount of water used on the driving range. Esmeralda Golf Course uses a little more water than Qualchan, which Nord suggests may be because Esmeralda has more trees.