We're happy to report a reduction in our water use ratio during 2008. Down to 3.8 barrels of water for every barrel of beer we make.
So, if one barrel ends up in the beer, what happens to the other 2.8? Well, approximately 2 are cleaned at our on-site process water treatment plant. That water is then further cleaned by the City and returned to the Poudre River, our watershed, for downstream users. The 0.8 is lost to evaporation and spent grain.
Why the improvement in 2008? Optimized cleaning regimes, fixed water usage spread over more barrels, and less irrigation, we think. We don't actually have all of the uses inside the building submetered, so our strategy to date has been to design equipment and processes well and to be conscious of our consumption. Given that the reported brewing industry average water use is 5 or 6 barrels to one, it's working so far.