November 28, 2012

We at Agon Management recommend you do the following to save water in all your rental units:

Tip 1: Perform a Drip Inspection

Dripping faucets and running toilets in your rental units can take a toll on your pocketbook. Although the dripping or toilet running seems innocuous enough, it’s a fact that the simple task of inspecting faucets, shower heads and toilet connections for such runs or drips can save you a lot of money – from hundreds to thousands of dollars a year. When you consider that most tenants do not report a constantly running toilet or minor leaks in their faucets, the responsibility becomes the property management company’s or landlord’s to check for water leaks. So when the landlord or owner forgets to follow through on water leak checking – one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways to save water — the landlord or owner is likely to be paying too much of a total water utility bill in all of his rental units.

There is usually a 20 to 50 percent difference in water utility costs when you compare the operating expense reports of a rental unit building that conducts drip inspections to one that does not. So it is clearly within your interest to conduct such an inspection.

Tip 2: Replace the Flush Mechanism

Another way to save on your end-of-the-month water utility bill is to replace the flush mechanism inside toilets that were made before 1994. Almost all toilets that were manufactured before the federal national manufacturing standard of 1994 — which ordered that all new toilets use only 1.6 gallons per flush – can use up to 3 – 7 gallons per flush.

Unless your rental units were built in the post-1994 period, its highly likely your toilets are flushing 2 to 3 times the amount of water than needed. Yet by installing a dual-flush device into each of the commodes in your buildings, you can save a lot of water – and money. But before going out and buying these water-savings devices, it is important to know what specific type of toilet you have in terms of flushing capacity and shape. These devices can be easily installed by anyone and do not require special tools. However, be sure to check the specifications on the dual-flush system before going out and buying several of these gadgets. It’s also a good idea to perform a trial run on one on your rental units before going ahead and installing the device throughout the entire building.