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AWWA SOURCES59195
- Partnerships Drive Conservation in State Government: A Water Efficiency Success Story for State Prisons
- Conference Proceeding by American Water Works Association, 01/11/2004
- Publisher: AWWA
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Thanks to a collaborative effort between the Georgia Environmental Partnership (GEP)and the Georgia Department of Corrections (GDC), millions of gallons of water per yearare being saved at a GDC vegetable canning plant in Reidsville. This reduction in wateruse lowers the demand on southeast Georgia's threatened primary water source, theUpper Floridan Aquifer. By developing a comprehensive water efficiency program, theplant has reduced its peak daily water use by 57 percent, a savings of approximately 25million gallons of water per year.To date, the prison has undertaken the following water efficiency measures: installation of flow meters, totalizers, and control valves to control and track water usage;implementation of a counterflow rinsing system to reduce the amount of fresh waterused to clean vegetables; elimination of one vegetable rinsing step; installation ofan alternative cooling system to eliminate once-through cooling water; and, implementation of dry clean-up practices to reduce water use in equipment and floorcleaning.The success of this project can be attributed to management commitment to resourceconservation at GDC, a team approach to developing water efficiency solutions, and anunderstanding of the cost benefits of wastewater minimization. Includes reference, table.