Earthwise Environmental’s cooling tower solution reduced water use and saved money for Chicago's Union Station.
By Bob Miller, Founder and President, Earthwise Environmental Inc. - August 2, 2011
As a leading provider of sustainable solutions for commercial and industrial water systems, Earthwise Environmental consults for a wide variety of facilities across the country. When we get the chance, working in our own back yard is especially gratifying. So, when our team of experts in our Bensenville, Ill., headquarters got a call to consult on water usage in Chicago’s Union Station, we were especially excited to dig in. Just about everyone in the Chicago area, and so many people across the country, have walked through the corridors of that grand, historic building. Union Station was built in 1925, and is a massive structure spanning nearly nine-and-a-half city blocks. Its facilities are mostly underground, beneath layers of streets and mid- to high-rise buildings.
After Union Station was acquired by real estate investment company Behringer Harvard, Earthwise Environmental was contacted to see if we could help improve the facility’s water usage. By evaluating the system’s operations, equipment, and flow of water through the station we found a solution that would keep their water supply from literally going down the drain.
With some simple, inexpensive solutions and creative thinking, we were able to show the customer how they could reclaim the condensate water that was going to the drain, and re-use it in the tenant cooling tower system. All of the station’s tenant tower makeup needs were met by simply piping air handler condensate to a small tank, then pumping it into the cooling tower. Since the air handlers were located in close proximity to the tenant tower, the piping and tank configuration were easily installed.
The upfront cost of the project was less than $10,000, and Union Station’s savings are estimated to be 800,000 to 1,000,000 gallons of water per year. As part of our recommendations, Earthwise Environmental also reduced the facility’s chemical treatments by more than 50 percent, since the AHU water is very clean and soft. Now, our staff has a new appreciation for the station and a special sense of pride when we walk through it.
Bob Miller founded Bensenville, Ill.-based Earthwise Environmental in 1995 to provide environmentally-sound, sustainable water management solutions to hospitals, schools, hotels, food processing plants, light industrial and commercial facilities. To learn more about Earthwise Environmental and its water treatment solutions, visit www.earthwiseenvironmental.com.