Climate Action Day 2026: The One Change in Your Building That Actually Moves the Needle on Water and Carbon
The Climate Action Hiding in Your Restroom
When organisations discuss climate action, the conversation often starts with solar panels, energy-efficient lighting, electric vehicles and renewable energy targets. These are important investments. But there is another opportunity hiding in plain sight, inside the everyday operations of commercial buildings. The water your building uses also carries an energy footprint. And some of that water may be used for a task that does not need it in the first place. Consider a conventional urinal in a busy office, airport, shopping mall, hospital or educational campus. Every time someone uses it, a flush sends fresh water down the drain. One flush may seem insignificant. Multiply it across hundreds of uses a day, dozens of fixtures and an entire year, and the numbers become substantial. That water must be sourced, treated and transported. Depending on the local infrastructure, energy is also used to pump it through the building and treat the wastewater generated after use. This is the connection between water management and climate action that many building operators can afford to examine more closely.
For Climate Action Day on October 24, 2026, it is worth looking beyond the building's electricity meter .
1. Every Litre of Water Has a Story Behind It
Water does not arrive at a commercial building without effort. Depending on the source and location, supplying it can involve extraction, treatment, pumping and distribution. Once used, wastewater may require collection, pumping and treatment before it can be discharged or reused.
Each stage has its own environmental and operational considerations. Research into wastewater treatment in the Mumbai Metropolitan Region has examined the relationship between water flows, energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The findings demonstrate why wastewater management should be considered as part of the wider water-energy-carbon equation. Read the research on the water-energy-in wastewater treatment. This does not mean every litre saved translates into the same carbon reduction. The result depends on the water source, pumping requirements, treatment processes, electricity mix and local wastewater infrastructure. But the principle is clear reducing unnecessary water demand can also reduce the energy required to supply and manage that water. For a building with high daily footfall, even a small operational change can create measurable water savings over time.
2. Start With a Fixture That Flushes Hundreds of Times
A conventional urinal uses water to flush urine into the drainage system. In high-occupancy facilities, repeated flushing can account for a considerable amount of water consumption. A waterless urinal removes that flushing requirement. One Zerodor waterless urinal can save more than 150,000 litres of water annually, according to Ekam Eco Solutions' estimates. Actual savings depend on usage patterns and the conventional fixture being replaced. Explore Zerodor waterless urinal technology to understand how the system works. Zerodor uses a mechanical one-way valve that allows urine to flow into the drain while helping prevent odour-causing gases from returning to the restroom. The system does not require flushing water, electricity, sensors or chemical sealants for its basic operation.
For existing facilities, the retrofit approach can also make water conservation possible without replacing the entire restroom infrastructure. Consider a building with 10 urinals. At an illustrative saving of 150,000 litres per urinal per year, the potential annual water saving would be:
10 urinals × 150,000 litres = 1.5 million litres per year.
That is 1.5 million litres of water no longer needed for flushing those fixtures, based on the stated assumptions. For a multi-building campus or a portfolio of commercial properties, the combined opportunity can be considerably larger.
3. How Water Savings Connect to Carbon Reduction
Water conservation and carbon reduction are related, but they are not interchangeable metrics. To estimate the carbon benefit of a water-saving intervention, a facility needs to understand which energy-consuming processes are actually avoided. A simplified calculation looks like this Avoided water-related emissions = Water saved × Relevant water-system emissions factor
For example, a facility could estimate the energy previously required to pump and treat its water, determine how much of that energy is avoided after implementation, and apply an appropriate electricity emissions factor. If the intervention also reduces wastewater volumes, the facility may be able to estimate additional savings associated with wastewater pumping and treatment, provided those benefits are not double-counted.
The calculation should use site-specific or appropriately documented factors wherever possible. It should also account for the baseline fixture, actual usage, operational changes and the boundaries of the assessment. This is particularly important when reporting carbon benefits to management, auditors or sustainability stakeholders. Water saved can be measured directly. Carbon savings must be calculated using a defensible methodology. The distinction helps organisations turn a promising sustainability claim into a credible performance metric.
4. Why This Matters for ESG and BRSR Reporting
For Indian businesses, environmental performance is increasingly connected to formal reporting, procurement decisions and operational accountability. The Securities and Exchange Board of India's Business Responsibility and SustainabilityReporting(BRSR)framework includes disclosures relating to energy consumption, greenhouse gas emissions and water consumption. A water-saving intervention does not automatically establish a quantified carbon reduction or guarantee a particular reporting outcome. However, it can provide useful operational evidence when supported by reliable records.
Facility and sustainability teams can document:
The number and type of fixtures replaced or retrofitted.
Baseline flushing-water consumption and the assumptions used.
Actual or estimated water savings over the reporting period.
Relevant pumping and wastewater-treatment energy impacts.
The methodology and emissions factors used for any carbon estimate.
Maintenance records and evidence that the system continues to operate as intended.
This makes sustainability reporting more closely connected to what happens inside the building, rather than relying exclusively on high-level targets. For ESG leaders, it is also a way to identify practical improvements that can be implemented within existing facilities.
5. Climate Action Should Work After the Campaign Ends
A sustainability initiative creates lasting value when it becomes part of everyday operations. A solar installation generates value over its operating life. Efficient lighting continues to reduce electricity demand while it is in use. Similarly, a well-designed water-saving fixture can reduce flushing demand every day without requiring users to change their behaviour. That is the advantage of addressing consumption through infrastructure. At Ekam Eco Solutions, this thinking informs the development and deployment of Zerodor waterless urinals. The objective is eliminate unnecessary flushing water while maintaining a functional, odour-controlled restroom experience. Ekam reports more than 85,000 Zerodor installations and cumulative water savings exceeding 3.5 billion litres. These are company-reported figures; individual facility results will vary with installation numbers, usage and baseline conditions. For organisations looking to improve building performance, the starting point does not have to be a large, complicated project. It can begin with a review of the fixtures and systems that consume resources repeatedly.
6. One Practical Step Your Building Can Take This Climate Action Day
October 24 is a useful opportunity to review the gap between a building's sustainability commitments and its everyday resource consumption.
Start with a simple audit:
Count your flush urinals. Record the number across offices, campuses, factories and other facilities.
Establish the baseline. Identify the flushing volume, daily usage and annual water consumption as accurately as possible.
Estimate the opportunity. Calculate potential water savings from waterless alternatives using realistic assumptions.
Assess the wider impact. Review relevant pumping, water-treatment and wastewater-treatment energy requirements before estimating carbon savings.
Plan a measurable intervention. Evaluate retrofit compatibility, operating requirements, maintenance procedures and the evidence needed to verify results.
This approach makes the conversation specific. Instead of simply asking how a building can become greener, it identifies a resource-consuming activity, a practical intervention and a method for measuring the outcome.
The Bigger Picture: Better Buildings Start With Better Systems
Climate action does not always require a new source of energy or a more complicated technology.
Sometimes, it begins by recognising that a familiar system was designed around a resource-intensive assumption and that a better alternative is available. Every litre of water that does not need to be used is a litre that does not need to be supplied for that purpose. The associated energy and carbon implications can then be assessed using the conditions of the building and its local infrastructure. For India's commercial buildings, this is an opportunity to bring water efficiency into the same operational conversation as energy efficiency, emissions and responsible resource management. This Climate Action Day, look beyond the electricity meter. Start with the water your building uses every day.
Explore Zerodor waterless urinal solutions and assess the water-saving opportunity in your facility. Planning a retrofit or a portfolio-wide assessment? Contact Ekam Eco Solutions to discuss your facility requirements and request a tailored water-saving estimate.
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