Initiatives like the 'Blue Star Rating' demonstrate how restaurants can conserve water, writes Sonia Grover and Nathaniel Bhakupar Dkhar

A restaurant, a place to tantalize one’s taste buds and enjoy conversations with friends and family, is the picture that comes to mind, yet no one can imagine that these restaurants can also be a place to conserve a huge amount of water and inculcate water conscious behaviour. Water often plays a supporting role, unnoticed yet indispensable. Water is needed for everything from kitchen operations to guest services. The world is increasingly becoming conscious of environmental sustainability, and the restaurant sector is one of the main ones where water conservation practices could result in huge water savings.

We are witnesses to the recent water stress situation in Bangalore city, where residents had to face a severe water crisis, and there is almost a perpetual shortage of around 500 million litres every day. Limited water sources, a depleting groundwater table, and erratic monsoon patterns have all conspired to bring Bangalore to this crisis. Demand-side water management strategies are needed to salvage the situation and balance the disproportion of water demand and supply gaps.

This common urban water stress scenario calls for every demand sector, including the hospitality sector, to shoulder the responsibility of water conservation.Mission Life, launched by the Hon’ble Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi, called for lifestyle-related changes for environmental conservation. Mission LiFE puts an individual and collective duty on everyone to live a life that is in tune with Earth and does not harm it.

As part of this mission, a global call for ideas and papers (GCIP) was launched, and the best 5 entries were awarded to pilot test their ideas. One of the award-winning ideas led by Dr. Sonia Grover focused on - Promoting water conservation in restaurants through the ‘Blue Star Rating’ system.

The team pilot tested this idea in a few restaurants in Delhi that were selected on a random basis in the North Delhi and the New Delhi Municipal Corporation (NDMC) areas of Delhi. Restaurants were in different categories, including fine dining, casual dining, and state canteens. The two main tasks of this project included developing a star rating system to grade and score the restaurants based on the water-saving interventions adopted by the restaurants. 

These included both technical and behaviour change-related interventions. This rating framework is called the ‘Blue Star Rating’. This was developed because ratings serve as a powerful tool for quantifying and monitoring interventions toward water-saving practices.

This includes behaviour change by providing feedback, promoting awareness, fostering healthy competition, incentivizing action, leveraging social influence, and informing policy decisions, all of which ultimately lead to huge water savings and a ripple effect.The second important task was to visit the restaurants to identify water-saving potential through simple interventions such as low-flow aerators, which facilitate reducing the flow rate of water from faucets. They achieve this by mixing air into the water stream, which maintains the pressure while using less water.

This results in decreased water consumption without compromising the functionality of the faucet. It’s one of the most cost-effective solutions to save water in both commercial and residential settings. For handwashing taps, it was observed that flow rates at some restaurants were as high as 15 litres per minute. By installing these aerators, the flow rates were reduced on average by a range of 30-60%, which is a significant saving. In addition, for some taps, the flow was regulated by adjusting the pressure valves to optimize the flow. Also, visible leakages were fixed to save the water. With just these few interventions, around 5000 litres per day of water were saved in just less than 50 restaurants. Delhi has around 1,00,000 eateries, both organized and unorganized.

If all of these restaurants strive towards water conservation with such simple solutions, the amount of water saved can help us tide over the water stress situation to a significant level. If a Blue Star Rating is placed in the system, restaurants can be encouraged to take more water-saving interventions that are feasible and economically beneficial for them. Together, this sector can elevate water conservation, which also makes business.

For restaurants, adopting water-saving practices not only helps to mitigate environmental impact but also  reduces operational costs. Water savings easily translate into monetary benefits accrued due to reduced utility bills. Simple yet effective measures like low-flow faucets and repairing leaks promptly are small adjustments that yield significant savings over time. In addition, sensitizing staff ensures the sustainability of the interventions undertaken. By championing sustainability through various interventions, restaurants can inspire consumers to consider the environmental implications of their choices. Restaurants can also be a platform for learning by engaging diners through information, education, and communication (IEC) collateral to raise awareness about the restaurant's water-saving initiatives, which can foster a sense of community around sustainability.

(Dr Sonia Grover is Senior Consultant and Nathaniel Bhakupar Dkhar is senior research scientist at Mu Gamma Consultants, Gurugram; views are personal)