RAF Mildenhall saves water, money with upgraded system

  • Published
  • By Senior Airman Ethan Morgan
  • 100th Air Refueling Wing Public Affairs
RAF MILDENHALL, England --  RAF Mildenhall Airmen recently identified a potential savings that will result from conserving water with an addition of a timer to automated urinal flushing systems.

A source of water waste was found by the 100th Civil Engineer Squadron emergency management office. This finding allowed the base to devise a plan to reduce water consumption and projected annual savings for the base could reach almost $70,000, said Steve Perry, RAF Mildenhall energy manager.

Prior to the new improvements, the automated system would flush urinals across base every 10 minutes, whether or not it had been used. At this rate, each urinal used 12,500 gallons of water annually.

The new timers allow 100th CES Airmen to adjust the automated flush system to twice an hour during normal duty hours and one hygiene flush per day during the weekends and low occupancy days. This new system could reduce water utilized by urinals on the base by as much as 80 percent, said Perry.

"With natural resources reducing, we need to be good stewards of what and how much we use," said Perry.

While finding ways to save money and resources for the base is important, RAF Mildenhall leaders must come up with systems that will not hinder base operations or degrade living conditions for Airmen or the local community, in the process.

"We need to be supportive to our local communities by not taking more water than absolutely necessary during the present drought conditions," said Perry.