John Flesher of AP out of Traverse City, MI has a new series launching this weekend on water conservation in the Great Lakes region. Good news. Here's the opener of the first piece.
When the Metalworks company set out a couple of years ago to manufacture office furniture in a more environmentally friendly way, a consultant made a suggestion: Why not use less water?
Managers realized they hadn't given much thought to the roughly 24 million gallons used each year to prepare metal filing cabinets for painting. They reconfigured the Ludington plant's conveyor washing system to recycle water before sending it down the drain.
By 2004, Metalworks' water usage had fallen to 11.5 million gallons. This year's projected total: 8 million gallons — with no drop-off in production. The company's municipal water bill is down from $45,000 to about $15,000, more than recouping the $10,000 cost of upgrading the system.
"Not only do we save money, but the environment wins, too," said Sidney Shaw, the environmental, health and safety director for Metalworks.
It's no big secret: Saving water is good for the environment. And it helps the bottom line of businesses and households alike. For many in the world's arid climes, making every drop count is second nature.
Now, conservation is slowly catching on around the Great Lakes, an aquatically blessed region where prevailing attitudes toward saving water have ranged from benign neglect to scorn. The lakes contain 20 percent of the world's fresh surface water and their drainage basin abounds with inland lakes, rivers, wetlands and subterranean aquifers
Posted by Dave at December 2, 2005 07:43 PM