search.noResults

search.searching

dataCollection.invalidEmail
note.createNoteMessage

search.noResults

search.searching

orderForm.title

orderForm.productCode
orderForm.description
orderForm.quantity
orderForm.itemPrice
orderForm.price
orderForm.totalPrice
orderForm.deliveryDetails.billingAddress
orderForm.deliveryDetails.deliveryAddress
orderForm.noItems
ONE BIG WAY A PROPERTY CAN PAY THE LEAST AMOUNT EACH BILLING CYCLE FOR THEIR WATER/ SEWER BILL IS TO BE SURE THEIR BUILDING IS NOT LEAKING WATER! In a single family home, you can turn off all faucets, make sure nothing that uses water is running and look at your water meter. If it is moving with everything turned off, you have a leak somewhere. The first stop should be the toilets in the house. Turn off the water supply pipe to the toilet. If the meter stops running, you know where the leak is. This process is a lot harder in a multi-family community!


This is becoming a major issue now that the price for a gallon of water in Chicago is 1 cent a gallon. Many condominium communities use 1 to 5 million gallons every billing cycle (every 2 months). Like the lighting solution to lower monthly electricity costs, lowering the water/sewer bill can be a project that is done with no money upfront and solutions paid for out of savings. Considerably more difficult to identify leaks than in a single family home, there are still ways to see if a building is leaking. A device can be placed on the water meter that would measure water flow every minute for a 4 or 5 day period. If the water flow through the meter is significant during the middle of the night, it is a sign that there are leaks in the building. There can be several causes for the excessive flow of water during the night that would be explored. First and foremost, a check of the toilets in the property should be conducted. A blue dye pill can be placed in the tank of all toilets. If after 15 or 20 minutes the bowl has a blue color, there is definitely a leak in the tank. In most cases, the cause of the leak is a faulty flapper or flush valve ball which is supposed to form a watertight seal. These leaks are hard to find because they can be silent. A broken fill valve can also be the culprit in a leaking toilet.


When researching online for the amount of water a leaking toilet can cause, the EPA estimates range up to 20,000 gallons a year or more. The EPA states 20% or more of toilets leak and that toilets account for 27% of the normal water usage in a home. Obviously, at a penny a gallon, multi-family residential properties have much at stake in trying to address leaking toilets. Properties that were built in the ‘50s, ‘60s, ‘70s and ‘80s had toilets installed that were 3.5 to 5.0 gallon per flush. Some residents have remodeled the bathrooms and have installed newer 1.6 gallon per flush toilets. However, many residents still have the original toilet that was installed when their property was built. Today, there are Ultra High Efficiency toilets that use 0.8 gallons per flush that do a better job than the original toilets installed that are 3.5 to 5 gallons per flush. That’s 75% less water per flush than the toilets that were originally installed.


What if a board was able to offer a new, higher, modern toilet, installed at no cost to the unit owner? A project such as this would save an enormous amount on the City water/ sewer bill. Some unit owners that have installed high end Koehler or Toto toilets (as examples) would not need to participate in such a replacement program. Unit owners that wanted to have a new toilet or two in their unit could participate in the program and the project would be paid for by the HOA out of water/sewer savings. With Water Savings as a Service, after a set period of time, the association has paid for the toilets and then keeps all of the savings (just like with the lighting upgrade).


A person wouldn’t think about leaving for a long weekend, turning on every light in their unit, turn on every television and leave their computer on while they were gone, because of the cost on their ComEd bill that they would have to pay. Residents don’t think about water savings the same way. While they do actually pay for the building’s water usage in their monthly assessments, most don’t have the commitment for saving water as they aren’t directly impacted by the bill.


Finally, it is just a matter of time before the City of Chicago includes water usage in their Benchmarking reports in grading a property. Many cities across the country already include water usage in the Benchmarking reports and the City of Evanston includes it now. To be sure, we all have an obligation to be good stewards with this earth and the available resources.


PROPERTY AND NOT SPEND ANY UPFRONTMONEY AND PAY FOR PROJECTS OUT OF SAVINGS. “GOING GREEN” HAS NEVER BEENMORE APPEALING!


THERE ARE NOWWAYS TO CONSERVE ENERGY AND WATER, UPGRADE YOUR


54 | COMMON INTEREST®


A Publication of CAI-Illinois Chapter


Page 1  |  Page 2  |  Page 3  |  Page 4  |  Page 5  |  Page 6  |  Page 7  |  Page 8  |  Page 9  |  Page 10  |  Page 11  |  Page 12  |  Page 13  |  Page 14  |  Page 15  |  Page 16  |  Page 17  |  Page 18  |  Page 19  |  Page 20  |  Page 21  |  Page 22  |  Page 23  |  Page 24  |  Page 25  |  Page 26  |  Page 27  |  Page 28  |  Page 29  |  Page 30  |  Page 31  |  Page 32  |  Page 33  |  Page 34  |  Page 35  |  Page 36  |  Page 37  |  Page 38  |  Page 39  |  Page 40  |  Page 41  |  Page 42  |  Page 43  |  Page 44  |  Page 45  |  Page 46  |  Page 47  |  Page 48  |  Page 49  |  Page 50  |  Page 51  |  Page 52  |  Page 53  |  Page 54  |  Page 55  |  Page 56  |  Page 57  |  Page 58  |  Page 59  |  Page 60