In June of 2002, the California Urban Water Conservation Council was
awarded a $2.3 million grant on behalf of 30 water utilities in the state by the
California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC). The grant is funding a major pre-rinse
spray valve replacement program directed at small and medium sized food
service establishments. The CPUC is funding 70 percent of the Program cost;
water utilities are funding the remaining 30%. In this direct-install Program,
approximately 17,000 valves will be replaced free of charge by the end of 2003,
yielding hot water savings of more than 300 gallons per day per valve.
The dishwashing operation in a typical restaurant consumes over two-thirds
of all the water used by that establishment. In some cases, nearly one-half of
the water used in dishwashing is consumed by this pre-rinse spray valve, which is
used to remove food from dishware, utensils, and pans before placing them in the
dishwasher. These valves currently can be purchased with a variety of flow rates:
most that are purchased and installed are over 3.0-gpm. The efficient
replacement valves being installed in this program use 1.6-gpm or less.
Because this program was also the first time that many water utilities were
able to do serious canvassing of the restaurant sector, the Program also includes
a data collection component designed to serve as the foundation for a later
program phase: that of constructing and implementing another incentive program
directed specifically at the dishwashers, icemakers, or steamers within those same
food service establishments. This voluminous database of 17,000 restaurants will
also be a valuable source of research information for other future water
conservation efforts. This paper presents specific information on how the grant was obtained and
the implementation experiences in the field. The paper provides the reader with
insights as to the methods that worked and which achieved spray valve
installations (and water savings), as well as the methods and attempts that were
unsuccessful. It will also offer specific recommendations for water utilities
considering any type of conservation outreach to the food service industry.
| Edition : | Vol. - No. |
| File Size : | 1
file
, 230 KB |
| Note : | This product is unavailable in Ukraine, Russia, Belarus |
| Number of Pages : | 6 |
| Published : | 01/11/2004 |
