A device that can save a medium-size restaurant an average of 50,000 gallons of water per year debuted at Amara Creekside Resort, the first restaurant in the area to sign up for the Arizona Rinse Smart program.

A device that can save a medium-size restaurant an average of 50,000 gallons of water per year debuted at Amara Creekside Resort, the first restaurant in the area to sign up for the Arizona Rinse Smart program.

The new state program brings high efficiency sprayers to restaurant kitchens — for free. All that restaurants need to do is sign up. The Arizona Department of Water Resources does the rest.

Once old water-wasting sprayers are replaced with new spray heads, the restaurant will see dramatic savings on their water use and energy bills, according to ADWR.

Rinse Smart is part of the April Water Awareness Call to Action in Sedona, Jawn McKinley, chair of the WaterWise Alliance, said.

?It?s a great program for Sedona, so we?re rolling it out this April,? McKinley said. ?We?ll be contacting all the restaurants in the area, and visiting each on Tuesday, April 17, to install their water-efficient sprayers.?

?We expect everyone in Sedona to sign up. Why not? It saves money. It saves water. And it?s free,? she said.

At the Cutting Edge

City Councilman John Bradshaw made the call that got Amara Resort to sign on.

?We like being cutting edge at Amara, and when [City Councilman] Ramon Gomez, our vice president, heard about this, he was all for it,? explained Michael Rock, the resort?s general manager.

?Anything we can do to preserve this wonderful place, we?ll do. It?s a great opportunity to do something that?s right and saves us money,? Bradshaw said.

Marjie Risk, supervisor of the Arizona Water Conservation Program, said the Rinse Smart Program came about because of efforts by Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, who wanted to address water management issues in the state.

?The program has been in place in California for several years. Their tracking reports show that, with a Rinse Smart sprayer in place, a medium-size restaurant can save an average of 50,000 gallons of water per year,? Risk said. ?Less hot water used also means less energy used, and that means lower costs for the restaurant.?

The program is very simple for the restaurant. When it receives the Rinse Smart materials, it simply fills out and mails in the sign-up sheet.

Next, a person from the water company shows up and swaps out the old sprayer for the Rinse Smart sprayer. It?s even easier than changing a shower head at home.

The new high-power sprayer uses about 1 gallon of water per minute, around half that of typical sprayers. Its knife-edge spray also makes it more efficient at removing debris from plates during the pre-wash phase.

At Amara?s Gallery at Oak Creek kitchen, it just took a couple of minutes to make the change. Then, the new sprayer was ready for the ultimate test. Elmer Aldino was the washer on the shift that morning, and his response was immediate and positive.

?It works better. I like it,? Aldino said.

For more information on Rinse Smart Arizona, contact Paul Chairman at the Statewide Water Conservation Office, 1-602-771-8423