Case study: Water conservation partnership at Clyde Refinery, Australia
The Shell Clyde Refinery in New South Wales, Australia, formed a successful partnership with its water supplier, Sydney Water, to create a programme of proactive water conservation measures.
Sydney Water launched a programme to enable its customers to analyse the amount of water they used and to identify ways to save water, reduce costs and contribute towards environmental sustainability. Shell Refinery, Clyde, a significant water consumer, was happy to become a partner in Sydney Water’s ‘Every Drop Counts’ programme, which has a target to reduce overall water consumption by 35 per cent by 2011.
Our first step was to communicate to the refinery workforce the necessity of using less water at home and at work. Before starting the water reduction programme, refinery staff were made aware that water is a valuable resource and not an inexhaustible supply. For example: sweeping concrete can often be just as effective as hosing down, taps should be turned off and leaks should be reported to maintenance. Sydney Water helped emphasise this message with an awareness campaign.
A 'water conservation ideas' competition resulted in a number of suggestions, which are being reviewed for possible implementation. Ideas included water-efficient showerheads and trigger nozzles on all hoses on the site.
There are two main reasons why Shell should reduce water consumption. The first reason is the need to manage and conserve scarce resources to contribute towards the protection of the environment; the second reason is economic. Shell, like all other businesses in Australia, needs to be a cost effective producer. Reducing the two million dollars per year water charge would contribute to process cost efficiency.
Process efficiency engineers are already implementing proactive water conservation measures, such as:
Reducing water consumption, in partnership with stakeholder Sydney Water, also reduces the cost of energy, chemicals, sewer discharge, trade waste and labour, as well as promoting a sense of social responsibility – an important consideration in the face of continuing drought and water restrictions throughout the state.
