Case Studies

Throughout the country, commercial and institutional (C&I) building owners and facility managers are taking actions to reduce their water use, implementing many of the operations and maintenance, retrofit, and replacement projects described in WaterSense's C&I best management practices guide, WaterSense at Work.

WaterSense is gathering and documenting case studies to describe successful water efficiency efforts, which will provide an avenue for sharing information within and across C&I sectors. Each case study provides a detailed description of the project the facility implemented and how much water, energy, and utility costs they were able to save.

Sector	Focus	Case Study
Miscellaneous	Outdoor Water Use	Certified Irrigation Professional Harvests Gold from Water-Saving Products (3 pp, 774 K, About PDF): Following an audit by a certified professional, a Loveland, Colorado, neighborhood saves over 4 million gallons of water per year with WaterSense labeled irrigation products.
Miscellaneous	Outdoor Water Use	Albuquerque Apartments Realize Savings with Rebate and Retrofits (3 pp, 564 K, About PDF): The property managers at La Paloma Apartments worked with the local water utility and partners to upgrade indoor and outdoor water fixtures.
Hotel	Education and Outreach	Olympic National Park Hotel Reaches Out and Saves (2 pp, 798 K, About PDF): Kalaloch Lodge in Forks, Washington, reduced water use by 40 percent between 2011 and 2014, saving 1.4 million gallons of water annually.
Hotel	Mechanical Systems	Georgia Hotel Saves $1M Annually by Maximizing Mechanical System (3 pp, 1.15 MB, About PDF): The Hyatt Regency Atlanta in Atlanta, Georgia, reduced water use by 35 percent over three years.
Hotel	Outdoor Water Use	California Golf Resort Hits Hole in One With Outdoor Water Efficiency Efforts (2 pp, 843.4 K, About PDF): The Resort at Pelican Hill in Newport Beach, California, saved more than 48 million gallons of water in one year.
Hotel	Sanitary Fixtures and Equipment	Hotel Installs Water–Efficient Sanitary Fixtures (2 pp, 758 K, About PDF): The Holiday Inn San Antonio International Airport in San Antonio, Texas, saved 7 million gallons of water per year.
Hotel	Sanitary Fixtures and Equipment	Laundry Day Means Big Savings for San Antonio, Texas, Hotel (2 pp, 121 K, About PDF): The Westin Riverwalk Hotel saved more than 2.2 million gallons of water per year.
Hotel	Sanitary Fixtures and Equipment	Texas Hotel Upgrades to Four-Star Water Efficiency (2 pp, 861 K, About PDF): The Hilton Palacio del Rio Hotel in San Antonio, Texas, reduced its water use by 49 percent between 2004 and 2011.
Hotel	Water Monitoring and Management	Global Entertainment Company Gets Wise About Water (3 pp, 696 K, About PDF): Caesars Entertainment reduced water use intensity in properties nationwide by 17.8 percent between 2008 and 2012, saving 399 million gallons of water.
Hospitals and Other Medical Facilities	Laboratory and Medical Equipment	Hospital Installs Water–Efficient Laboratory and Medical Equipment (3 pp, 868.5 K, About PDF): The Providence St. Peter Hospital in Olympia, Washington, saved 31 million gallons of water over 10 years.
Office Buildings	Outdoor Water Use	Office Complex Reduces Outdoor Water Use (2 pp, 773.6 K, About PDF): The Granite Park office complex in Plano, Texas, saved 12.5 million gallons in one year.
Laboratories	Mechanical Systems	Laboratory Eliminates Single–Pass Cooling (2 pp, 865.3 K, About PDF): The EPA Mid-Continent Ecology Division Laboratory in Duluth, Minnesota, reduced potable water use by 90 percent.
Laboratories	Water Use Monitoring and Education	Federal Agency Implements Water Management Strategy (3 pp, 1.10 MB, About PDF): EPA laboratories nationwide reduced water use intensity by 18.7 percent over three years.
Restaurants and Other Commercial Kitchens	Water Conservation	Major Restaurant Chain Slows the Flow(2 pp, 832 K, About PDF): Arby's saved more than 107 million gallons of water since 2011 at over 3,000 states.
Restaurants and Other Commercial Kitchens	Commercial Kitchen Equipment	Family Dining Chain Scoops Up Big Dip in Water Use (2 pp, 765 K, About PDF): Using audits to identify opportunities, Shari’s Café and Pies saves 300 million gallons of water over 8 years.
Restaurants and Other Commercial Kitchens	Commercial Kitchen Equipment	Restaurants Install Water–Efficient Commercial Kitchen Equipment (3pp, 843 K, About PDF): Uncommon Ground in Chicago, Illinois; The Grey Plume in Omaha, Nebraska; and Founding Farmers in Washington, D.C. saved water, energy, and more.
Miscellaneous	Outdoor Water Use	La Rinconada Country Club Changes Course and Uses a Drone to Deliver Savings (3 pp, 1 MB, About PDF): La Rinconada Country Club reduced peak water use by 54 million gallons with a bird’s eye view to their landscape water management plan.
Miscellaneous	Outdoor Water Use	Oklahoma Makes Median Irrigation OK (3 pp, 865 K, About PDF): The Oklahoma City Utilities Department reduced water use in roadway medians by 1.2 million gallons between 2016 and 2019.
Miscellaneous	Outdoor Water Use	Texas Shopping Mall Buys into Outdoor Water Savings (2 pp, 797 K, About PDF): The Village at Stone Oak saved 14 million gallons of water annually with beautiful, water-efficient landscaping upgrades.
Miscellaneous	Outdoor Water Use	Car Wash Chain Drives Down Water Use(2 pp, 703 K, About PDF): H.E.B. Car wash facilities saved more than 24million gallons of water with reclaim and reverse osmosis systems.
Universities	Commercial Kitchen Equipment	California Campus Cooks Up Kitchen Water Savings (2 pp, 623 K, About PDF): Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles, California, reduced its water use by more than 4.7 million gallons per year.
Universities	Onsite Alternative Water Sources	University Makes the Most of Onsite Alternative Water Sources (3 pp, 1.51 K, About PDF): The University of Texas at Austin in Austin, Texas, reduced potable water use by 33 percent over approximately 30 years.
Universities	Indoor Water Use	Cobb County Showers KSU with Campus-Wide Savings (2 pp, 310 K, About PDF): Kennesaw State University, Georgia, saved more than 650,000 gallons of water by switching out to WaterSense labeled showerheads.