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Show TABLE 2 Water use at Salt Lake Commercial Laundries Name gpd Gallons/ lb Recycle American Linen 95,000 1.6 Y ! Quality Linen 95,000 NR NR GNK Corporation 58,000 1.3 N Todd Corporation 18,000 3.6 N Textile Care 43,000 3.3 N Utah Qualities 24,000 NR NR Total 333,000 gallons/ day Total 1.02 Acre- ft/ day NR - No Response linen services, but many contract commercial linen services. Policies require sheets be changed at least once a day on every bed. Many beds are changed more than once per day due to patient changes. This policy is for sanitary reasons to prevent the spread of infection. If a typical bed produces 30 lbs. of laundry per day, which is washed in a tunnel wash facility, approximately 17,100 gallons of water would be used per day in a hospital of similar size to University Hospital in Salt Lake City. This water usage is equivalent to 40 Salt Lake City residences. The hospitals contacted gave no indication that current reuse practices of laundry water should pose a problem as far as spread of disease or germs. Current reuse and recycling practices use hot, clean water in the final stages of the laundering process for hospital linens. Potential Water Savings Using facilities listed in Table 2 as a base, if the commercial laundry facilities that are not recycling water were to implement recycle practices, 21 percent of the water used in these facilities could be saved. This is equivalent to 71,820 gallons per day or 80 acre- feet per year. The cost to implement this practice is relatively high, so as to make retrofitting existing laundries cost prohibitive. New commercial washers would need to be purchased, and retrofitting the facility with separate wastewater trench systems would be required. In addition, the required tanks, pumps and pipes would be expensive. When a new facility is designed, the cost for adding recycle is relatively small. American Linen recently constructed a new facility and provided flexible recycle options as well as provisions for industrial pretreatment. The cost to add these was minor compared with the overall cost of the facility. Cost Effectiveness All of the laundry facilities contacted were reluctant to share cost information concerning recycle operations. Therefore, a formal cost evaluation was not possible. Two laundries, Mission Industries ( California) and American Linen ( Salt Lake City) commented that water recycling and reuse were very cost- effective because energy was saved from reducing the need for water heating. Commercial laundries are also looking at recycling and reuse to reduce the impact of water quality standards on their businesses. |