Waste Water Recycling in the Hospitality Industry

Abstract

Water is an indispensable but scarce natural resource, used in the hotel intensively for sanitary and food processing purposes, producing and letting out vast amount of wastewater in the process. Untreated waste water has detrimental effects on the environment and subsequently impacts negatively on human and other forms of life. This is aside from the fact that hotels constantly have to commit a lot of finances into obtaining fresh water from the mains to meet with huge water demands. Fortunately, water is a renewable resource which may be reclaimed for both economic and environmental benefits. Recycling wastewater therefore, makes it a resource rather than a waste. This study looked at how wastewater generated from hotels may be collected, treated and reused for other non portable purposes. A three star hotel situated within the Bauchi metropolis was used as case study with the objective of determining the volume of water used in the hotel on daily basis, find out how waste water from all the use-sources may be collected and treated using biological process and to explore how treated wastewater may be put to profitable use in the hotel. The study found out that the hotel uses an average of 72,142.7 litres daily. The system found suitable to be adopted by the hotel is the three chamber treatment system. It is recommended that hotels use treated wastewater to green the environment, nurture a mini vegetable garden, for car wash, laundry and for flushing toilets.

DOI: 10.5901/ajis.2014.v3n7p87