Water Conservation for Apartment Property Management
Water conservation is the maximization of processes, habits, and equipment to minimize
water usage, thereby minimizing water cost. As fresh water coming in is waste water
going out, sewer usage and costs are also minimized by water conservation programs.
For property management, water conservation results in the controlling and minimizing
of what is typically a top five 
property management operating expense. A properly managed apartment water supply system
gives greatly increased property value to apartment owners and managers.
Developing a water conservation program addresses three areas:
habits,
equipment,
and
monitoring.
A useful tool for water conservation is submetering,
where individual submeters
are placed in apartment units, and residents are billed back for their water and
sewer usage. While this typically returns 80 to 100% of the water and sewer expense
to management, it also significantly reduces water consumption.
Another related area for property management to consider is
water billing rate and usage analysis,
where rates applied by the primary municipal supplier
are verified as accurate.
Experience tells us that significant over-billing errors or excess usage problems
occur on average every four years for most apartment communities. Other
locations have chronic high water bill issues. Argen’s service to clients has resulted
in numerous large credits and refunds to client water bill accounts.
