Water recycling by design

• Grey-water recycling system built into hotel design from the ground up
• Reduces annual fresh water consumption by around 20 %

The 100-room NH Campo de Gibraltar hotel in Algeciras, Spain was opened in 2009 with a clever grey-water recycling system successfully installed in another NH hotel (Hesperia hotel in Cordoba, Spain). Waste-water is collected separately from basins and showers, then treated and recirculated for toilet flushing, which significantly reduces potable water consumption.

Grey-water recovery systems require separate pipework and are therefore difficult to retrofit, so new hotels have a distinct advantage in being able to install such systems from the ground up. And payback periods can vary from 2 to 15 years depending on the type of system and the cost of fresh water saved. 

Key results

The hotel reported relatively high system maintenance costs of between € 2 000 and € 3 000 per year, which has an effect on the overall benefits. Nevertheless, the novel recycling system built into NH Campo de Gibraltar's property managed to cut annual water consumption by 20 %, with an equivalent reduction of sewage as well.