Commissioner Gets Out of Hot Water

In an interview with WPTV Ch. 5, Commissioner Abrams discusses the county’s initiative to discontinue hot water usage in most of the county’s facilities, including his own office in the South County Administrative Complex. The shutdown includes approximately 135 water heaters.

“It may seem like a drop in the bucket, but it all adds up,” said Commissioner Abrams. “The county is sometimes accused of getting into hot water, but now we’re getting out of hot water while saving taxpayers’ money,” he added.

The county will achieve an immediate savings from the actual energy costs of the heater in addition to the maintenance, repair and replacement. In addition, it will avoid water damage from periodic system failures, which the county experiences, according to the county’s Facilities Development and Operations Department.

The majority of savings will be in the cost of replacing these units, which were old and needed immediate replacement. With 135 heaters countywide, the initial annual savings is estimated to be $162,000.

Additional savings will be realized by not using these water heaters when considering the damage they create when they inevitably fail, causing hundreds of gallons of water leaking into the space where they are located. This results in a costly cleanup. For example, in December 2009 there was a system failure in the West Palm Beach Courthouse which cost over $26,000 and interrupted service for several days.