Combining energy and water management could help slash both energy and water losses and reduce costs. Integrated approaches, combined with better data, can provide a full assessment of costs and benefits of efficiency measures, including upstream and downstream impacts. Integrated energy and water audits, for example, could save companies time and money. Also, industry can often use water that has lower quality and is available on-site, such as process water or treated wastewater, reducing freshwater demand and saving on energy costs associated with water transportation.
There is emerging evidence that water conservation programmes can, in some cases, deliver even more energy savings than programmes that focus on energy efficiency alone. Implementation of water audits and recommended measures at industrial sites have been shown to deliver water savings in the range of 10-50% with additional savings of up to 20% in reduced costs for energy and water treatment chemicals.
A comprehensive analysis of water and energy use by the manufacturing sector in the United States indicates that investing in water efficiency is ten times more cost effective than investing in alternative water supply, and could result in water usage reduction of 60%.