Hotel profits were being washed down the drain, according to a report revealing that showers were using as much as 15 large bottles of water every minute.

The study, part of a sustainability project organised by the Malta Business Bureau, found that some of the island’s hotel showers were consuming a litre every two seconds.

Speaking at an event marking the close of the project yesterday, coordinator Geoffrey Saliba said some toilets were using as much as 15 litres per flush. The report, covering half the island’s hotels and several office buildings, found that most were exceeding the recommended water consumption rate.

This represents a massive burden on businesses

Mr Saliba said that, in many instances, the situation was easily reversed through the introduction of pressure controllers and aerators as well as the promotion of in-house water treatment.

The project ran over the past 30 months and helped 135 hotels and businesses save 141 million litres of water. Mr Saliba said the savings amounted to the entire annual water consumption of three medium-sized hotels and two large factories. It also identified a potential national consumption reduction of 37 per cent if all hotels were to introduce the recommended measures. This, Mr Saliba said, would translate into an annual saving of €1 million worth of water.

The savings, he added, increased further when electrical consumption was taken into consideration. “Much of the water would have been heated in boilers. This represents a massive burden on businesses,” he said.

On industrial savings, Mr Saliba stressed the importance of rainwater harvesting rather than the use of reverse osmosis or groundwater extraction. Harvesting, he said, could amount to 60 per cent of water consumed by offices.

Malta is the most water-stressed country in Europe, extracting 50 per cent more than the sustainable limits set by the EU’s groundwater directive. The situation was further compounded by the island’s dependence on reverse osmosis plants. This, Mr Saliba said, made up four per cent of the island’s energy consumption.

“These simple water-saving measures can mean less money being spent by businesses and also protect the environment. These are savings we can’t afford to miss out on,” he said.

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