A paper on water consumption published today has revealed that five-star hotels use 462 litres per guest night.
The paper Water Consumption Benchmarks – a step towards reduced consumption, was drawn up by the Malta Business Bureau's EU LIFE+ Investing in Water Project.
It also found shows that three-star hotels use 199 litres and four-star hotels 292 litres of water per guest night.
Offices consume 25 litres of water per employee per day, manufacturing enterprises 24, and manufacturing enterprises where a number of employees also shower use 46 litres per employee per day.
Project manager Geoffrey Saliba said businesses and hotels could use the benchmarks to identify higher than usual consumption and guide their decision to start saving water.
He said these were the most detailed set of water consumption benchmarks for hotels and businesses published in Malta to date.
"They are based on in-depth water audits carried out among 38 businesses and hotels earlier this year. Apart from revealing current consumption patterns the audits also revealed areas where a decrease in consumption can be achieved."
The paper shows that service water – that used in toilets, showers and wash hand basins, accounts for between 38 and 86 per cent of hotels total water consumption and between five and 98 per cent of a business' consumption.
However, although comprising a significant percentage of an enterprises' consumption, no standards exist in these facilities. As a result, flow rates in showers vary from four to an excessive 12 litres per minute, while flushing cisterns vary in size from six to 15 litres.
The paper recommends standard flow rates of seven litres per minute for shower flows, five litres per minute for wash hand basin flows, and a toilet flushing cistern volume of six litres.
"The benchmarks help enterprises identify excessive consumption and act to correct it. By going a step further and adopting the recommended standard flow rates and flushing cistern volumes, many enterprises could easily save 10 per cent or more of their current water consumption," Water expert to the project, Marco Cremona, said.
Over the course of this year and the next the project will help businesses and hotels reduce their water consumption by identifying water saving solutions. The project is also monitoring water consumption, and aims to publish updated benchmarks for water wise businesses and hotels in 2014.
The paper may be downloaded from www.investinginwater.org .