Proactive Water Management: Best Practices for Buildings of the Future

By Yaron Dycian,  Chief Product and Strategy Officer, WINT Water Intelligence

Building and operating a modern commercial property or industrial facility requires a major ongoing investment of resources. Unfortunately, inefficiency and mismanagement of water resources remain among the most significant threats to a building’s performance. 

In the United States alone, water treatment and delivery accounts for 13 percent of the country’s total electricity consumption, releasing up to 290 million metric tons of carbon every year—approximately 5 percent of total US emissions and equal to the carbon output of more than 60 coal-fired power plants. In California alone, water-related consumption of electricity, natural gas and diesel fuel results in carbon emissions equal to 7 million passenger vehicles. 

Commercial buildings and facilities across industries are responsible for a large percentage of that energy expenditure. Research found that in the United States, 17 percent of the public water supply is consumed by schools, hotels, retail, offices, and hospitals. Amplifying the urgency of the situation, industry benchmarks show that up to 25 percent of the water entering any building ultimately goes to waste. 

As building operations become increasingly complex and demanding, the need for better water management solutions is critical. The costs associated with water damage and water waste are growing. Awareness of the continuing carbon impact of inefficient water management is also leading the industry to search for ways to take a proactive approach to water management in the buildings of the future. 

Fortunately, technology developments in the space of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and data science are powering a transformation of water management in the built environment. Innovative solutions that mitigate risk, reduce waste, and prevent property damage are showing a new way forward that drives changes in perceptions and approach. 

Continually cycling water in and out of buildings takes massive amounts of energy, which results in significant costs for businesses. Inefficient water management can result in direct costs, including the repair and replacement of damaged materials, as well as indirect costs such as business disruption, lost time, and increased insurance premiums and deductibles. In extreme cases, water damage can render a building uninhabitable, resulting in significant financial losses. Not to mention unquantifiable aspects of the business, such as brand reputation.

The entire built industry ecosystem—owners, developers, management teams, contractors, designers and engineers—can now invest in technology-driven solutions that can dramatically improve efficiency and lead to immediately noticeable savings in terms of water consumption and cost. In an increasingly competitive market, with ongoing labor shortages, rising materials costs and an uncertain overall economic forecast, a robust water management proactive approach could be a major competitive advantage in any industry. 

With newly acclaimed technologies powered by AI and Internet of Things (IoT), water loss and related risk can be addressed at the source, with root cause analysis. Real-time signal processing allows water management solutions to proactively optimize water usage and waste, while mitigating risks throughout the lifecycle of a building from construction to operational phase. 

Cost-effective water management solutions should include capabilities such as: 

• High accuracy leak detection and water abnormalities with minimum false alarms. 
• Automatically shutting off the water to isolate building systems and mitigate potential damage. 
• The ability to scale with multiple systems across large buildings and facilities. 
• Backup power to ensure uninterrupted operation even during power outages. 
• Autonomous operation and local data storage in case of communication failures. 
• Ability to monitor all types of water systems in the facility, including main feeds, domestic cold water, irrigation, closed loops, cooling towers, sprinklers, and HVAC systems.

There are plenty of case studies in favor of technology-driven proactive water management. Two of them include Microsoft’s new 46,000-square-meter R&D campus as well as The Atlantis Casino Resort, the largest casino in Reno, Nevada. 

Microsoft faced the challenge of protecting a cutting-edge research and development facility from the risk of potential water damage in addition to an ongoing corporate mission to reduce its carbon footprint. Deploying proven systems throughout the LEED-Gold certified campus, Microsoft saw immediate operation and environmental benefits. In the first 12 months of operation, the company was surprised by the impact of savings that include: 

• 8 million gallons of water and 350 cubic tons of carbon emissions.
• Water consumption rates went down by 46 percent.
• Hundreds of thousands of dollars in access water bills.

The Atlantis Casino Resort’s significant commitment to guest satisfaction required a proven solution that would deliver immediate, measurable results. The Atlantis Casino Resort installed advanced water management systems throughout public and guest areas in hope to reduce water consumption. By the end of the year, Atlantis had: 

• Identified a high-water flow and automatically shut-off the water supply to prevent enormous damage from a potentially catastrophic leak. 
• Detected multiple water incidents such as pools and Jacuzzis that were not filling properly. 
• Saw full return on its initial investment. 

We notice that commercial buildings consume a sizable portion of the public water supply, and with this comes our responsibility for a sustainable future. To effectively tackle the challenges of water in these buildings, we need to turn to innovation and adhere to a proactive mindset. 

The first step to creating the sustainable next generation of buildings is to reimagine plumbing systems not as isolated networks but as integral components of a building’s overall functionality. With AI technology in our favor, allowing us to monitor water flow in real-time and take immediate actions when needed, we can now implement the next-generation solutions that anticipate the future’s demands.

Yaron Dycian is chief product and strategy officer for WINT Water Intelligence, a start-up tech company that developed artificial intelligence-powered leak detection and mitigation solutions. WINT serves some of the world’s largest organizations and used globally by customers including the Empire State Building, HP, PepsiCo, Suffolk Construction, as well as many other leading enterprises, general contractors (GCs) and facility owners.