Case study - Fortune select trinity.pdf

Fortune Select Trinity hotel is a commercial establishment that is highly dependent on tanker water. This makes water expensive for them. They also lack water security as they are completely at the mercy of tanker water providers. In an effort to secure their future water needs, the hotel has turned to rainwater harvesting as a sustainable solution to this problem. This case study looks at how and to what extent they have been successful in this endeavour.

1. FortuneSelectTrinity
FortuneSelectTrinityisabusinesshotelinWhitefieldwhichstarteditsoperationsin2007.Itis
locatedaround1.5kmsouthofSeetharampalyalake.Itwasoriginallybuiltonaplotof3acres.
Thishasnowbeenreducedto2.59acresafteraportionofthelandtothenorthwasacquiredfor
Metroconstruction.Therearecoconutgrovesandotherfarmsbehindthehotel.
Fig1:Left:FortuneSelectTrinityhotel;Right:Locationonthemap
Fig2:ProximitytotheSeetharampalyalake
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2. Thereareatotalof142roomsand154toiletsinthehotel.Thereisarestaurant,kitchen,laundry,
staffkitchen/dining,andstafftoiletsinthemainblock,andahealthclubwithaspainanother
block.Thereisalsoaswimmingpooltotheeastfromtheentrance.Thereis1acreofopenspace
(lawnarea)nexttothehealthclubandsmallpatcheswithplantsandgrassneartheentryand
exitofthehotelpremises.
Fig3:FortuneTrinitySelectlandarea
1.0Summary
FortuneSelectTrinityhotelisacommercialestablishmentthatishighlydependentontanker
water.Thismakeswaterexpensiveforthem.Theyalsolackwatersecurityastheyarecompletely
atthemercyoftankerwaterproviders.Inanefforttosecuretheirfuturewaterneeds,thehotel
hasturnedtorainwaterharvestingasasustainablesolutiontothisproblem.Thiscasestudy
looksathowandtowhatextenttheyhavebeensuccessfulinthisendeavour.
2.0Tankerwaterconsumptionanditscost
Basedonthedatasharedbythehotel,thedailytankerwaterdemandisaround60KLD.Total
Freshwaterdemandincludesthewatercansthatarepurchasedfordrinkingandcooking
purposesandthisvariesdependingontheoccupancyofthehotel.Thefollowingtablecaptures
thewaterdemandofthehotelexcludingthewatercans.
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3. Dailytankerwater
consumption(KL)
Annualtankerwater
demand(KL)
CostperKLof
tankerwater(₹)
Costperannumof
tankerwater(₹)
60 21,900 55 12,04,500
Table1:Tankerwaterconsumptionanditscost
Asseeninthetableabove,thecurrentannualfreshwaterdemand(thatcomesfromtankers)of
thehotelis~21900KL/annumandthetotalcostincurredbythehotelfortankerwateris
₹12,04,500/annum.
3.0SourcesofWater
Tankerwater,whichisthemainsourceofwaterforthehotel,isusedforallnon-potablepurposes.
Watercansaresourcedfordrinkingandcookingpurposesandtheirquantitiesvaryaccordingto
thenumberofguestsstayingatthehotel.
Therearetwoborewellswithdepthsof350feetand75feetinthehotelpremises.However,both
ofthemaredysfunctionalcurrentlyasoneofthemhasrundryandthewallsoftheotherhave
collapsed.
4.0WaterStorage
Therearetwoundergroundtanksof50KLcapacityeach.Oneoftheseisusedtostorerawwater
fromthetankers,andtheotheroneisusedtostoretreatedwaterfromtheWTP.Thereisalsoan
undergroundfiretankof50KLcapacityinthesamearea.
5.0WaterTreatmentPlant
Thehotelalsohasawatertreatmentplant(WTP)installedinitspremises.Waterfromtheraw
sumpisdirectedintothetreatedwatersumpthroughtheWTP.
6.0SewageTreatmentPlant
AsewagetreatmentplantthatworksonSBRtechnologytreatsallthewastewaterproducedby
thehotel.Treatedwaterfromthisplant(~35KLDbasedontheinformationsharedbytheclient)
isusedforgardeningandflushingpurposes.Allthetreatedwaterisusedupinthehotelitself,
thereisnoexcesstreatedwastewaterasoftoday.
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4. Fig4:STPatFortuneSelectTrinity
7.0Watermanagementstrategies
Thefirststeptowardsachievingwatersecurityforthehotelwasrainwaterharvesting.Thehotel
hasalsoinvestedinwaterdemandmanagementtoreduceitswaterconsumptionasmuchas
possible.Thissectionlooksatbothaspectsindetail.
7.1Rainwaterharvesting
Thehotelhasmadeeffortsinharvestingrainwaterfrombothrooftopsandsurfacerunoff.Below
arethedetailsofthesame.
Fig5:Rainwaterharvestingschema
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5. 7.1.1RooftopRainwaterharvesting
Rooftoprainwaterharvestingforthemainblockwasundertakenin2020andthatofthehealth
clubwasundertakenin2021.
Multiplerainyfiltershavebeeninstalledtofiltertherainwaterfrombothblocks.TwoHDPEtanks
(connectedtogether)areusedtostorethisfilteredrainwaterfromthemainblockandits
overflowisledintotheUGrawwatersump.Filteredrainwaterfromthehealthclubisledintoa
rechargewellabout5metersfromthebuilding.
Fig6:HDPEtanksstoringrooftoprainwater
Thereis,however,thefrontentranceporchandthesouthsidebalconywhererooftoprainwater
harvestinghasn’tbeenimplementedyet.
7.1.2Rechargewells
Currently,fiverechargewellswith5feetdiameterand20feetdeptheachweredugintheyear
2021.Fouroftheserechargewellsareinthe1-acrelawnarea,andonemoreisinthegardenarea
neartheentranceofthehotel.
InSeptember2022,waterwasavailable2feetbelowgroundlevelinthesewellsandlookedclear.
Ayieldtestwilldetermineifthereisapotentialforanopendugwellasasourceofwaterforthis
hotel.
ThepHofthewaterwhentestedwithahandheldmeteronsitewas8.64.BasedonthepH,the
watercanbedirectlyusedfornon-potablepurposeslikecleaning,washing,etc.Ifpassedthrough
aWTP/ROfilter,thiscanalsobeusedfordrinkingandcookingpurposes.Fullwatertestingwould
howeverberequiredtodetermineitsuse.
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6. Fig7:Left:Rechargewellinthelawnarea;Right:waterlevel2feetbelowgroundintherecharge
well
7.1.3Rainwaterharvestingpotential
Calculatingtherainwaterharvestingpotentialisamethodofestimatinghowmuchrainwatercan
beharvestedfromrooftopsandsurfacerunoffannually.Itisassumedthat90%ofrooftoprunoff,
70%ofpavedarearunoffand30%oflandscapeareacanbeharvested.
Thefollowingtablecapturestherainwaterharvestingpotentialofthehotel.
Rainfallrunofffromvarioussurfaces
TypeofareaArea
(sqm)
Runoff
coeffici
ent
Annual
runoffat
974.5mm
rainfall
(KL)
Runoff
at20
mm
rainfall
(KL)
Runoff
at30
mm
rainfall
(KL)
Runoff
at60
mm
rainfall
(KL)
Contrib
ution
tototal
runoff
Rooftoparea
(Total)
2100 1843 78 5711335%
Roofarea(hotel
building)
14500.91272 26 39 7824%
Roofarea(health
club)
4000.9 351 7 11 227%
Roofarea
(entranceporch)
1500.9 132 3 4 8 2%
Roofarea
(balconyon
southside)
1000.9 88 2 3 5 2%
Non-rooftop7689 3507 7210821665%
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7. area(total)
Pavedarea
(driveway)
32290.72203 45 6813641%
Landscapearea44600.31304 27 40 8024%
Grandtotal9789 5350110165329100%
Table3:Rainwaterharvestingpotential
Hence,thereisapotentialtoharvest5350KLofwaterannuallywithrainwaterharvesting.
Outofthis,1272KLofwaterfromthemainblockiscurrentlybeingstoredandreused.
7.2Waterdemandmanagement
Water-savingplumbingfixturesandaeratorshavebeenfixedforthewashbasinsandtaps,along
withlow-flowshowerheadsinallthebathroomsofthehotels.
Kitchensarealsoequippedwithdishwasherstoreducetheconsumptionofwater,andaerators
havebeenfixedforalltapsintheKitchenandlaundryrooms.Allthesemeasureshelpinreducing
thedemandforfreshwaterinthehotelbyreducingwastage.
However,meteringhasnotyetbeeninstalledtomeasuretheactualusageofwater.
7.3Outcome
Earlierabout6-7tankersofwaterperdaywerebeingconsumedbythehotel.Afterimplementing
someofthewatermanagementstrategies,theirtankerwaterconsumptionhascomedownto
about5-6tankersperday.Thistranslatestoareductionofabout365tankersperyear.The
followingtablecapturesthesedetails.
Reductioninthenumber
oftankers/annum
Reductionistankerwater
consumed/annum(KL)
Reductionintanker
watercost/annum(₹)
365 3650 2,00,750
Table4:Reductionintankerwaterconsumptionandcost
Thisreductionintankerwaterconsumptioncanbeattributedtorainwaterharvestedfromthe
mainblock,waterdemandmanagementandotherfactorssuchasreducedoccupancydueto
covidetc.
8.0Futureplans
Toutilisetheshallowgroundwater,thehotelplanstogetanopenwellduginthecampustoserve
asacheapandsustainablesourceofwaterandtoaiditswatersecuritybyreducingits
dependenceontankerwaterfurther.Ayieldtestwillbeconductedbeforeimplementingthisplan
todetermineitseffectiveness.
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8. 9.0Conclusion
FortuneSelectTrinityseemstobeontherightpathtoachievingitsgoalsofbecoming
environmentallyandeconomicallywatersustainable.Attheveryleast,theirplanswouldensure
watersecurityforthehotel.
Waterfromtheplannedopenwellcouldpotentiallyeliminatetheneedfortankerwaterinthe
future.Thereisalsopotentialfortherevivaloftheborewellsduetothegroundwaterrecharge
measuresputinplacebythehotel.Dependingonthequalityofthewaterfromthesetwosources,
theneedtobuybottledwaterfordrinkingcanalsobeeliminated.
MrSnehashishChakraborty,theGeneralManagerofthehotelisverykeenonimprovingtheir
watermanagementstrategies.Hesays,“Wewanttomaximizethewaterefficiencyofthehotel.
Thatisthereasonwemakesurenottosendanytreatedwateroutofourpremises.Rainwateris
thepurestformofwaterwecangetanditwouldbewastefultojustsenditdownthedrain.We
alsowanttoreduceourcostsofwaterinthishotel.Diggingadeepborewelldoesn’tmakesense
tomeanymorewhenIseewaterfilledintherechargewells.”
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