AMARILLO, TEXAS -- Water conservation has been the theme recently due to the current drought, so we asked for a list from the city of the top ten water users in the Amarillo and Canyon area.
We caught up two of the business on that list to see what they use their water on and how they plan to cut back if at all.
Xcel Energy and Baptist Saint Anthony Hospital were two of the top ten water users in the Amarillo Canyon area.
Wes Reeves of Xcel Energy says most people don't think about electricity generation needing water but their power plants use water to actually generate power.
"What you do in a steam generating plant, you have water for your boiler obviously, but you have to have water for your cooling tower, when the steam runs through the system it has to be condensed back into water and you use cool water for that."
Making that their biggest use of water, but 98 percent of the water used is recycled water from Amarillo sewage that is treated at city plants and piped out to Xcel.
"Every time you run your dish washer, flush a toilet or whatever, you're actually helping generate power, 98% of the water we use is actually recycled water."
BSA, who also made the top 10, says they also need the amount of water they use.
"Of the 1.1 million square feet in this building we use the water to help heat it to help cool it, besides just what goes into running a hospital there's a huge element to heat and cooling so much space, " said Mary Barlow, BSA Director of Corporate Communications.
Like Xcel Energy, BSA reuses their water and made their newly remodeled bathrooms more water conservation conscious.
"We have put in place 1.6 gallon toilets that they're single flush toilets and if you use any of our public restroom we have remodeled, they have the kind that have the electronic eye on it so there's no water if there's no hand under the faucet."
Barlow went on to say that without water they can't heat and cool the building, sterilize instruments or take care of patients but at the same time they're trying to be as conservative as possible.
Among BSA and Xcel Energy on the list were, Tyson Fresh Meats, Owens Corning, The City of Canyon, Northwest Texas Hospital, Plains Dairy, Veterans Hospital, TX Department of Criminal Justice and ASARCO.
