UCHealth Memorial Hospital Central serves our city and region as the only Level I Trauma Center and comprehensive stroke center in southern Colorado.
Doctors and nurses depend on important equipment, like medical vacuum pumps, to do lifesaving work in the hospital's operating rooms. However, these pumps used a lot of water, and hospital leaders knew there was an alternative option that could lead to long-term savings.
That's when we stepped in to help. Our water conservation team installed a portable meter to measure water use for a week. We found the six water-cooled pumps used approximately 2.5 gallons of water per minute, or 1.3 million gallons per year. That's a lot of water, approximately 11 times the average U.S household's annual use.
While the water-cooled pumps were doing their job, they weren't doing it as efficiently as new new air-cooled, oil seal pumps. Those models use no water, and the hospital only needed four of those pumps to do the job that the six pumps did before.
After installation was complete, our team compared the hospital's daily water use from January to June in 2021 (with the old system) and 2022 (with the new system).
The hospital experienced a drop of about 1,000 cubic feet of water per day, which is about the volume of a large U-Haul truck. This decrease made up roughly 4.5 to 5% of the hospital's total water use, thanks to the new pumps.
Our custom water rebate covered approximately 15% of the cost of the project. Added to the hospital’s water bill savings, the hospital’s return on investment will be realized in seven to eight years.
“Although there are operational cost savings with the newer pumps, money was not the only factor considered. Knowing that the hospital is such a large user of our local utilities, it only makes sense that we be good stewards of our region’s resources.”
Are you interested in learning more about our business custom water rebates? Call (719) 668–8281 or email sschreier@csu.org for more information.
