As detailed in Power Magazine, “the purpose of a cooling tower is to conserve water. It fulfills its purpose by rejecting heat to the atmosphere by convective and evaporative heat transfer.” The only water “lost” is the pure water that is evaporated; the remaining cooled water is eventually blown down, or drained, and sent back into the water system.The lower the heat load and/or ambient temperature, the less evaporation. The higher the system’s cycles of concentration (COC), the lower the blowdown.

High-efficiency water-cooled towers use far less energy on-site than air-cooled solutions, but operators of water-cooled solutions may see higher water costs and usage at their location. However, as stated in ASHRAE Journal, “the hidden reality is that air-cooled or alternative systems consume more energy on-site and use substantially more water at the power generation site…” To learn more about this, download the ASHRAE article, “A Review of Evaporative Cooling’s Efficiency and Environmental Value.” This article shows how much water is used offsite when employing less-energy-efficient technology for your mechanical system.

In most cases, yes! To start, operators should conduct all maintenance on their cooling tower as necessary and assure all its components are working properly and up-to-date technology is being employed. Water treatment or a water filtration system can also help raise cycles of concentration (COC) by limiting salts and minerals from entering the tower and reducing necessary blowdown.