Best Practices for Reuse Systems and Water Reduction Strategies

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Are there any "best practice" resources for manufacturing regarding reuse systems (cooling towers) and water reduction strategies?

We are thinking about creating a water re-use and conservation knowledge hub in Southwest US.

Would like to learn more about what is available in the open market for "best practices" that manufacturing companies and others can consider to reduce water usage (and save money).

We are also interested in landscaping water monitoring and reduction.

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11 Answers

  2. Dan, we use ozone as stand alone treatment system for cooling towers and are looking for folks who will promote the reuse of the tower discharge water.  Irrigation is one of the uses I always promote, but I'm trying to get more customers to look into aquafer replenishment.  I'd be interested in what you are doing.

  3. Landscape irrigation water monitoring can best be done by installing central control system. Installation of weather station and moisture sensors in the planting areas can further reduce water use.

  5. Algae is being used at City Wastewater Treatment plants removing 90% P and 75% N. We also test some wastewater/greywater/secondary water in the lab for algae growth rates and to see what potential co-products can be made.

    1 Comment

    1. Thank you Barry. Is there a case study, or brief writeup on this approach? Which City please?

  6. First the water auditing which includes how,what,why & where the water is going before it is taken back & reused doing same analysis then the best out of possible options must be taken into account based on priorities like cost saving ,pollution avoidance etc.

  8. In my own experience, hte most important think is review and develope "Water Balance" to understand if is possible recover and also identify the amount of water that you can recover or re-use.

    If you need more "tips" or "Ideas", please let me know.

    Good day.

    2 Comments

    1. Thank you Enrique. We are looking less for tips and ideas, and more for actual business case examples. There are thousands of businesses already with functioning water water cooler towers in Arizona. With one or two examples of retrofitting, specific cycle review, analysis and new approach that saved water (and money) via x,y,z. Same for landscaping approaches and monitoring (we are an arid environment). Best regards.

    2. Excellent suggestion.  Knowing how much you need before you construct your system is always important.  All water is recoverable and reusable. You might want to think about adding a long term water storage unit called a cistern. 500 gallons to 10,000 gallons. Your needs dictate how big the tank. Rule of thumb is enough for 2 years.  Food, water, all household supplies, clothing, etc.  

      1 Comment reply

      1. Hi Guy. Given the amount of water that businesses use, there is no 2 year supply cistern that makes sense for Med/Lg business in Arizona. As mentioned we are looking for best practices and case studies with specifics. Thank you in advance. 

  9. Without knowing what you are actually wanting to recycle I can assist you in your decision making process. I work with cutting edge technologies only. Currently we recycle 100% of our water and waste water. 100% of our trash and organic compounds. The residential units were tested in deserts of Iraq some years ago. started with 100 gl. of water. end of one year had 110 gl.. Rainfall and humidity condensing units were part of the system. I design closed environmental system for future space vehicle and colonization purposes.  Information is always free.  just call/skype, email etc.

    1 Comment

    1. We are looking for examples, not an analysis. We have 100+ industrial companies that are participating collectively using billions of water annually. I appreciate the anecdote, however we are looking for specific case studies, and/or best practice outlines. Is there a repository of residential case studies with some group, relating to water?

      1 Comment reply

      1. My mistake. I thought you were trying to connect with current technology that does 100% recycling of waste water and has multiple uses.  Since I am the hub for all things natural clean water is on my list on areas of expertise. Current projects are turning UAE desert into ever expanding garden and later tree/forest.  Sahara project pending.  I am in Texas. I am southwest USA.  40 years experience.

  10. Although my answer maybe slightly different than what you may be looking for I believe it is relevant.  In the Province of Saskatchewan, Canada the regulations to discharge into surface water bodies has been tightened up significantly...to the point where tertiary treatment is a requirement.  Tertiary treatment as you know is extremely expensive and where I live, is unaffordable to the 480+ towns.  Therefore for the past 8 years I have been the lead researcher for an Effluent Irrigation Woodlot solution just outside of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan.  I have written over 1,700 pages of documentation on the project and have officially received the "go-ahead" from Saskatchewan Environment to proceed with the project to qualified communities.  Basically, in brief, with the woodlot, towns no longer have to discharge a single drop of water to surface water bodies.  The woodlot is not limited to just effluent but I tested effluent water as that is the main concern Saskatchewan is facing.  I have selected several hybrid poplar and willow trees that are hardy, disease resistant, and can take water from as little as what falls from the sky to 2.5 vertical meters per year of effluent and not a single tree was adversely affected.  The beauty is that after the enzymes are fixed, the woodlot can be converted to a camping site...I have visited 2 cities in the US and in Western Canada (British Columbia).  If interested in hearing more just email me at kurt.rasmussen@SaskWater.com

    Sincerely,

    Kurt Rasmussen, P.Eng.

  11. A backwash recovery unit can be included in the water treatment system . when you backwash the  sand and carbon filters, that backwash water is briefly held in a tank with an auto-desludge function and when  enough of the water has accumulated in the tank(after a series of periodic backwashes), it's pumped through secondary set of sand and carbon filters(whose backwash will not be recovered!) and back to the raw water reservoir.

    For cooling tower, where makeup water is flowing in continuously and draining is done manually based on TDS analysis, its better to install an automatic TDS control system, which is simply a TDS probe or series of probes in the cooling tower basin which are linked to automatic valves (make-up an drain), so that make-up and/or basin drain occurs at precise TDS values such that there is no oversupply for makeup or excessive draining.

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    1 Comment

    1. Thank you very much Brian. Do you have a specific company example, where the co either used the backwash recovery approach or converted to an auto TDS system, with information on costs, usage prior to and after, etc?

      1 Comment reply

      1. we have a beverage plant in Kenya, where the water treatment system was installed together with a recovery unit. The sand and carbon filters are back-washed on a weekly basis, each consuming 43 and 27 cubic meters respectively totaling to 80 cubic meters per week and 320 cubic meters per month. Through the recovery system, we are able to recover over 70% of this quantity with remainder serving as  supply for the for backwashing of the recovery sand and carbon filters which is normally not recovered.

        Unfortunately the cooling tower plumbing has not been sufficiently metered to provide actionable data.