Roy A. Ackerman
About every 10 years, this comes up again. But, at least over my lifetime, it never seems to get very far. Water reuse.
Now, don’t get me wrong. Many industrial facilities reuse their water. Almost every cooling tower system (power plants, chemical facilities) does. Because it makes sense (ok, it makes cents- lots of them).
I have been involved in water reuse and recycle for nigh 40 years. From residential systems to car washes, from ore refining to laundramats, from manufacturing to cooling systems. Even a replacement for those MASH facilities (termed a Medical Unit, Self-containted, Transportables or MUST systems). In places close and far.
Way back in the 70’s, there was a big push to develop standards for municipalities. The World Health Organization developed a superior set, California has its own version, and even the Commonwealth of Virginia has them (although theirs are recently developed).
Whenever effluent (what the discharge of treated or semi-treated wastewater is termed) standards become elevated, folks want to examine the benefits of reusing water. Because there is a higher cost in meeting the newer, elevated discharge requirements and because many processes do not need the highest quality waters. And, then, the interest wanes.
Now, with 60% of America undergoing drought conditions, folks are once again considering reusing our waters. After all, the joke- the solution to pollution is dilution- isn’t very funny. And, we have been reusing our water in one form another since Adam and Eve first walked on this Earth. The numbers seem to indicate that some 12 billion gallons of water would be available if we chose more complete water reuse- about 27% of our total supplies.
The problem is how we reuse our water. I, for one, hold in comtempt many of those jumping on the bandwagon who don’t consider the final use of the water. Reusing our water to irrigate crops is one thing. (And, there has to be a “fallow period”, where reused water is not allowed to be used, so that harvesting the crops does not entail health risks, and there is sufficient time for any microbial contaminants to die off before the crops become incorporated in our food supply.)
Reusing water for those crops that make ethanol is one of the first things we ought to be doing. After all, with 10% of our fuel required to be supplied from ethanol, we need to consider the water needs of such a practice. Especially since many of these ethanol plants are situated where fresh water is at a premium.
It’s why when New Orleans was being rebuilt I tried to get folks to consider using dual water systems. One for drinking (the highest quality water) and the other for toilet flushing, watering lawns, gardens, and the like. But, the capital costs for such a system staggered their minds. Even though rebuilding is the perfect time to do it.
The problem is with reusing water for drinking. Because there will be failures. And, if we don’t store the water for about seven days, we won’t know if the water is safe- until it’s way too late.
We can’t use the criteria (now, there’s an overstatement) for drinking “virgin” water. Because treated wastewater will have recalcitrant chemicals. (Think about some of the things I’ve already written about- leftover antibiotics, anti-depressants- and those are just the easy things we can find.) Because treated wastewater is going to have viral loads- that are not going to be fully destroyed by our existing processes- or the new ones we plan to add on to let water get reused.
You know that cities and counties are going to take short-cuts. To save money. So, we need to quarantine the water for seven days until the tests we need to perform have time to be completed. And, that is going to take land- lots of it.
The simple answer is we are going to reuse our water. Because we have to. Desalination systems are more expensive, they only make sense for communities near bodies of water, and they use lots of power.
How about we start something new? Plan for the future and do it right!
I toured quite a few water treatment plants in a few states when I was getting my last Master’s Degree. Trying to get people to just upgrade their treatment facilities is hard enough. I can’t imagine what you must have gone through trying to talk to people about this. I believe you when you say the costs would be staggering – I’ve only seen part of them.
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Amethyst, you are absolutely correct. That would be a real problem for municipalities, who are seemingly run by governments that have forgotten that a 50 year old plant is not truly viable. But, it also seems that the ubiquitous four letter curse word has been replaced in the venality of our lexicon by a three letter one- TAX… (Horrors, I uttered it!)
And, corporations have the same concept, but they also recognize they are more likely to be the subject of the decades old game (Find em and Fine em), so they may react a little more prudently- and understand that water is the resource they need, as well.
I would never have thought of a dual water system, but that makes sense. People do use washing machine water to water the grass in some places. On the other hand, people who live in areas where a lot of agriculture is being over chemical-ized (however you say that) are having serious health issues as it is without reusing poisoned water. I don’t see how this can be fixed–global warming?
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We have to decide to build new developments with such systems. I do hope that they treat the washing machine water prior to watering the grass- unless we are only talking about using the rinse from the wash!!!
Fascinating! Public awareness over here is very limited.
People are gradually getting used to the idea of waste recycling, but probably more to fines rather than ecological concerns.
It may well be the same with water – the stick will work better than the carrot!
Cheers,
Gordon
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Well, there is a tremendous stigma attached to reused water for drinking… But, above and beyond that, there is not much discussion, except for those places like California, Norfolk, and part of Florida- and any location suffering from water shortages.
Thanks for the visit, Gordon!
Hi Roy!
i agree with you.if we use recycling of the use water then we abolish the condition of scarcity of water.many of us waste the water but if we recycle and reuse the water then it would be good for the world.
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We need to consider all sources of water- fresh, from saline, and from discharges in our overall plans. Choosing the proper source and the proper treatment will save us money and preserve the overall resources.
Thanks for your comments, Anshul
Evaporative heat rejection devices such as cooling towers are commonly used to provide significantly lower water temperatures than achievable with “air cooled” or “dry” heat rejection devices, like the radiator in a car, thereby achieving more cost-effective and energy efficient operation of systems in need of cooling.
Sounds sensible…. expensive?
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Actually, doing what we are doing is very expensive. And, that’s before we include the costs for the healthcare risks, Alessa.
And, if we do things right, we can cut some of our treatment- or divert the wastewater at various points in the process to the processes for which the quality meets the needs…
It seems like the drought situation in California has propelled people to become much more efficient with their water usage. I know I always see water being reused to water plants, but I am glad to read that companies have also found ways to reuse water with cooling towers. I hope that people will continue to innovate even after the drought (hopefully) gets better!
Yes, indeed, Laurel, there are a variety of techniques to reuce our overall water consumption. The key is to save our potable water for its highest use- drinking and medical (with further purification) needs.
The issue is that there has been a reduction in emphasis by firms to do so over the past decade, due to the lack of government regulation of our water supplies.
Back in the 80s and to some degree the 90s, there was great emphasis upon finding ways to reuse and recycle our water. Now, the only places considering the progams on a wide-scale basis are those that have found their drinking ater capabilities diminished- or disappeared.
Thanks for the visit AND the comment.