Data Required to Complete Toolkit
In addition to the data collected during the assessment, some data is needed in advanced to calculate water use benchmarks and characterize utility use and costs. The data that you can collect in advance of conducting the assessment includes:
- electricity billing or records for one year
- natural gas billing or records for one year, if applicable
- water billing or records for one year
- wastewater billing or records for one year
- count of male employees
- count of female employees
- building age
- floor area of facility in square feet
- turf area and landscaped area in square feet
- count of seats, if restaurant (optional)
- count of students, if K-12 school (optional)
- count of rooms, if hotel/motel (optional)
- count of beds and/or apartments, if nursing/assisted living facility (optional)
The assessment tool is a Microsoft Excel based tool designed to guide you through the process of screening your facility for basic water conservation opportunities. The tool is largely derived from the Federal Energy Management Program's WATERGY Software developed by Dr. Sharon deMonsabert and Barry L. Liner. The software has been modified as follows:
- more detailed instructions within the tool providing guidance on data collection and use of the tool
- assumptions localized to use in Colorado
- automatic calculation of performance against established water use benchmarks in selected sectors
- the calculation of greenhouse gas emissions that can be avoided through the water conservation measures