California Archives - Falcon Water Free

CALIFORNIA WATER USE EXCEEDS 25% MANDATE FOR JUNE

Despite being the hottest June on record, California’s urban water suppliers reduced water use by 27.3 percent, a savings of 59.4 billion gallons, as compared to the same time in 2013. June conservation efforts put the State on track to achieve the 1.2 million acre-feet savings goal by February 2016, as called for by the Governor in his April 1 Executive Order. Water suppliers have made significant Investments in their education and outreach programs to communicate the need to conserve to their customers. June’s enforcement statistics highlight the growing awareness of how water is used locally as a result of these programs. Water suppliers reported that their compliance and enforcement programs saw an almost two-fold increase in the number of complaints of water waste which resulted in a big jump in reported penalties.

Go California!

For more information on the June 2015 statewide conservation report (including individual supplier data), conservation compliance information and other supporting documents are available on the State Water Board website at http://www.waterboards.ca.gov/water_issues/programs/conservation_portal/conservation_reporting.shtml

Original article published by the State Water Board of California.

MANAGING DROUGHTS: HOW IT HAS AFFECTED ECOSYSTEMS

California has weathered many droughts, including four in the past four decades. These ranged from a short, severe drought from 1976-77 to a prolonged six year one in 1987-92. The latest drought began in 2012 has been proclaimed by having the driest three-year stretch in over 120 years of recordkeeping in California history. This current drought has been more widespread than most, covering the entire state.

We have mentioned here before that droughts test California’s water management, exposing their weaknesses and teaching us how to improve the state’s ability to deal with water scarcity. We need to learn how the weather patterns change landscapes, animal species, and human culture. Learn from the latest drought and begin to prepare for the next one. Today we will be pointing out how the latest drought has hit ecosystems harder than ever.

Rivers throughout the state has experienced record low flow of water. This affects the conditions in which native fishes live in, compromising not only the species but key habitats for migratory bird feeding. With little advance planning for managing fish and wildlife during severe droughts, regulators have been forced to make hasty decisions. Without knowledge and almost no scientific review, it’s hard to know the long-term effects of these choices.

MCBCE RECAP

Last Thursday, we joined our partner Sloan, at the Municipal Green Building Conference and Expo (MGBCE) in Downey, CA. The MGBCE brings together thought-leaders in green building and sustainability with municipal policy makers, policy implementers, leading architects, and engineers to further the development of a sustainable and energy efficient future for Southern California.

The event was focused on raising awareness about drought solutions for the commercial restroom. Key Sloan water efficient products were discussed and featured at this event. Our Waterfree technology was accompanied by Sloan’s High Efficiency Flushometers and Fixtures, Dual Flushing devices and sensor faucets.

We are always thrilled to take part in sustainability events such as the MGBCE. These are the moments we get to talk about things that are important to our company. The three pillars we once talked about here on the blog. Sustainability, Innovation and Hygiene. They are all intertwined and constantly work together to propel us forward in our journey. Whether it is investing in local communities, promoting environmental conservation, or developing products that reduce footprint, save water, cut back on unnecessary energy consumption.

More details on the event can be found here. If you are interested in learning more about our green story click here.

FALCON MEDIA COVERAGE: SPORTS TECHIE

Three months ago, we announced Jason Gore as our new Falcon ambassador. Just like us, Jason is a California native and has grown up experiencing first hand conservation and the California way of life. In the article below, Sports Techie blog does a great job at illustrating our local water conservation campaign (CA Shut the Flush Up) and why Jason is a perfect fit.

ARTICLE PUBLISHED BY SPORTS TECHIE BLOG:

Falcon Water Technologies sponsored PGA Tour golf professional Jason Gore to evangelize water savings rebate programs implemented by local utilities throughout California in order to help overcome the possibility that the state has one year of stored H20 left after four years of drought. The Sports Techie community blog spoke to Gore about his social media efforts to spread awareness about this global epidemic that has led to unprecedented glacier melting in Greenland, the Article Circle and Antarctica, the largest land mass of ice on the planet resulting is ocean levels rising with the potential to displace millions of human and animals that live on the many coast lines around the world. The time is now for all golf courses to meet this dilemma head on with conservation efforts much like Scott Heyn, General Manager at Oakmont Country Club in Southern California has persuaded his private equity course members to initially fund. Steve Nuskiewicz, Falcon Senior VP North American Sales, also shared with us why the rebate program is in place and how their tech eliminates the need for flush or low flush urinals.

Falcon Waterfree Technologies, LLC promotes conservation of fresh water and supports sustainable resource management by providing the #waterfree urinal system. Golf course restrooms are the focus of their “CA Shut The Flush Up” campaign because by installing water-efficient or waterfree urinals, up to 40,000 gallons of water per year/per urinal is saved a year. In order to save 88,000,000 gallons of water a year, each one of the 1,100 golf courses in California would need to install two waterfree urinals in their bathrooms. Gore said, “Making the switch to waterfree urinals is a very small undertaking with unlimited savings potential.”

The Los Angeles and San Francisco water utilities are doing their part to conserve water by incentivizing golf courses with rebate programs designed to pay for the total purchase and installation price of the waterless urinal. Los Angeles Department of Water & Power has a $20 million rebate program that allows L.A. area golf courses to subsidize out of pocket costs on the $500 fixture purchase and installation in most cases. An added bonus is there are no limits on redeemable rebates per location. Installation takes a mere one hour in many cases.

“Golf courses get a bad reputation, sometimes deservedly so, when it comes to water usage and while they’ve come a long way in the last 10 years, there are still important steps for them to take to finish the job,” emphasized Gore.

Riviera Country Club, Los Angeles Country Club, Hillcrest Country Club and Bel-Air Country Club are already saving money on water bills and cutting back on usage due to Falcon Waterfree urinals installed in their clubhouses, locker rooms, restaurants and pool areas.

Gore is a CA native that lives in Valencia. He has known Tiger Woods since he was 11. Jason graduated from Pepperdine where he helped lead the Waves to the NCAA Championship in 1997. Before transferring there, he won the Pac-10 individual championship as a freshman and sophomore at the University of Arizona. Besides holding the record for most wins in Web.com Tour history, Gore once shot an impressive 59 on the PGA Tour.

“As a global company with California roots, we jumped at the chance to work with Jason to help raise awareness for our efforts,” said Falcon Waterfree CEO Simon Davis. “We are always looking at new, fun ways to reach important market segments and Jason will help to ensure we get our message out there. We look forward to a long relationship and we are convinced he will win on the course and we will win off the course.”

Jason wears the Falcon logo on his polo shirt sleeve during tournaments and after play. The business relationship began at Valencia CC because Davis and Gore are fellow members. PGA golfers have asked him about the logo and placement. Gore mentioned that Rory McIIroy and Phil Mickelson both liked it. Gore’s caddy loves the sponsorship and thinks it is great. His social media content was met by PGA Tour characters with jokes such as, “that’s why we use trees,” but some have retweeted his noble efforts.

Shut The Flush Up
Steve Nuskiewicz spoke to me about the severe California drought and the need for more awareness which is why the Shut The Flush Up campaign was created. He is eager to watch the ROI Gore provides on social media via targeted marketing.

Waterfree technology developed by Falcon is the marketplace leader and more advanced than any other urinal. They constantly bring new concepts to market and are innovators in the janitorial and maintenance space saving hundreds and thousands of gallons of water for customers and the environment. The cartridges take three minutes to change, either you do it or sign up for the Falcon maintenance program. Day to day operation is simple, spray and wipe down the urinal, no engineering staff is needed for installation.

The rebate program in Southern California has been around since 2002/2003. The first facility to install Waterfree was the Rose Bowl in Pasadena. The initial 300 urinals will be added to the extras recent stadium renovations called for. Staples Center installed Waterfree back in 2007 and saves millions of gallons of water spread across their 330 events a year.

Phillips Arena here in Atlanta is not a present client. Throughout Georgia, some school districts and office spaces are using Waterfree but not The Masters at Augusta National. Even though water rates are not as high here or in other states compared to CA, sewage rates and waste water elimination is.

They offer a “Greener Restroom” for facilities that comes with waterless urinals, high efficiency toilets and solar powered faucets. The Sloan Valve Company produces the solar facets that actually are a Falcon private label relationship for Sloan water free, solar facets, sinks and flush valves.

I learned a new term from him, Zeroscape. It basically means a desert like ecosystem that requires no water, something golf courses and resorts around the globe are beginning to embrace.

Read the article here and more about our California campaign here.

CALIFORNIANS MEET WATER CONSERVATION GOALS

Last Tuesday, the California state water board announced that in December Californians met governor Jerry Brown’s water conservation goal of cutting water use by 20 percent for the first time. As we mentioned before, California is where we started and it continues to be the place we call home, therefore we can’t help but feel a sense of accomplishment. Not only is this our home, but it has always been our vision to promote conservation of the Earth’s precious supply of fresh water while supporting sustainable resource management. For over ten years we have believed in creating a water conscious restroom and it’s extremely exciting to see so many people come together with the same goal in mind.

Read more our involvement with the 20 by 2020 water goal and our local initiative here and here.