Water Wizardry: Real and Immediate Solutions to California's Drought

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Water Wizardry:Real & Immediate SolutionsTo California’s Drought

JERRY YUDELSON • APRIL 2015

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Key Take-Aways

Water concerns are now the next big (green) thing

International experience and technology can be adapted for U.S. use

Major opportunities & challenges: building owners, tech innovators, businesses, contractors, project designers, etc.

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Why Water Concerns?

Water: 21st Century oil

Freshwater supply limited

Population/urban growth: large water footprint

Climate change & water

Major droughts more frequent

Water conservation & reuse are vital

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Water Is the Oil of the 21st Century

Resource conflicts will intensify

Existing water sources fully allocated

Next urban/rural battleground

Water scarcities in the US increase

Businesses may wind up “high and dry”

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Water is the Oil of the 21st Century

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Freshwater is inherently limited

No more water since Adam & Eve

Usable freshwater a tiny fraction

Much is too polluted to drink

Aquifer depletion for water supply widespread

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Cool Water:Blue Is The New Green

JERRY YUDELSON • YUDELSON ASSOCIATES • TUCSON, ARIZONA

Our Watery Planet

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Freshwater is Really Limited

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Water Footprint of “Stuff”- “Virtual Water”

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Impacts of Climate Change

Much of world supplied in summer with snowmelt

Changes in climate = smaller snowpack, larger spring runoff, greater flooding, reduced summer stream flows, higher evapotranspiration, reduced agricultural productivity, more droughts, etc.

Water pricing to get conservation will be huge issue

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Water/Energy Nexus

Hydropower still important

Water supply energy use

Energy supply water use

By mid-2020’s: Not enough water for energy, or enough energy for water!

Lake Lanier, Atlanta, GA, 2007

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Major Droughts Since 2006

In the U.S.

Atlanta

South Texas (Austin/San Antonio)

California

Murray-Darling, Australia’s Largest River

In Australia

Every major city

Murray-Darling basin

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Water Conservation vs. Water Efficiency

Conservation means less total use

Efficiency does not guarantee conservation

Behavior modification equally important

Some water conservation: unintended consequences

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Water Conservation vs. Water Efficiency

A better idea

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Water Conservation Requires Good Pricing

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Australia

20 million people

Most live near the coasts

Except for tropics in the north, Oz is quite dry

Biggest drought in 117-year recorded history 2005-2009

o Global warming moved storm tracks south to Antarctica

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Australia

Coordinated response by national/state governments

$13 billion plan ($600 per person)

CA needs $24 billion, not $1 billion!

Water restrictions: all urban areas

Product innovations

WELS product ratings mandatory

Product innovations from labeling

Rainforest in Tasmania, Australia

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Australia

Plumbing industry front and center

Large water utilities begin to recycle water

Public is cooperative

Desalination seen as viable option & acted on

Water-free urinals

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Australia: Extreme Examples

“Sewer mining”

One Bligh Street in Sydney – 30 Story LEED Platinum

Makeup water for cooling towers/toilet flushing

Take water from city sewer, treat on site, reuse, return

Onsite blackwater treatment gaining adherents

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Australia: Lessons Learned

In a crisis, everything’s on the table

Easier to do big things politically

System favors (big) long-term solutions

Don’t neglect public participation

New technology can be mandated in crisis

Exotic solutions can be tried and evaluated

Murray-Darling — Australia’s Largest River

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Blue/Green Issues

Water shortages/droughts will re-occur forever

Financial incentive programs work, but slowly

Green certification programs promote water conservation, but not fast enough

Rising costs for water supply & sewage treatment will induce conservation over time

Stakeholder concerns; political/regulatory changes

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Inhibiting Forces

Water is still cheap

High-water-use lifestyles preferred

Unintended consequences to reduced water use (drain lines & public health)

Codes – need to change for water reuse

Develop “whole systems thinking”

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What Should the Public Sector Do?

Promote conservation

Price for reduced use

Incentivize retrofits

Regulate new buildings

Educate the public

Provide technical help

Develop new supplieso Water reuse

o Desalination

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Business Risk: Water Use vs. Climate Change

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Near-Term Business Opportunities

Building-level retrofits

Need financing at times

Building systems

Rainwater harvesting

Graywater reuse

Building applications

Cooling towers

Dual plumbing systems

Integrated systems

Match quality to end- use requirements

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Longer-term Possibilities

“Low-water system design” & water auditsHousehold fixture retrofits – massive scaleNEWater reuse/direct recycling systems (Singapore)New sub-specialties:o Fully integrating The Cloud:

daily water use, irrigation & immediate leak detection

o Monitoring, sub-metering & reporting via SaaS platforms

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Where Does This Leave Investors?A very dynamic (and profitable) future

Water shortages now, growing and permanent

New laws/regulations

Increasing block rate structures raise prices, reduce use

Mandates/restrictions coming

Favor distributed design/build/operate systemsLarger questions:

Should we abandon centralized model?

Should we still flush toilets with potable water?

Do we need testing and certification for new tech?

Can we take advantage of the current crisis to change?

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Where Does This Leave Business?

A very dynamic future: opportunities/challenges

Learn new technologies, systems, approaches

Develop new products

Address consumer concerns about water use

Address larger questions of supply security/cost

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What Can Leading Businesses Do?

Supply chain vetting for water-sustainable raw materials (cotton)

Supply-chain vetting for reduced water use in production of goods

Reduce water use in operations

Help consumers conserve water via education

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Tips for Business

Facility remote audits

Benchmark & learn from peers

Reduce, reuse, recycle

Adopt Cloud technology for monitoring water use

Educate associates

Cut landscape water use

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The Future is Green (and Blue), But…

If you want to score, run to where the ball is headed, not where it is now.

Water woes – permanent!

Ask yourself: how green (and blue) will the built environment be in 2020? 2025?

Will you pay penalties for lack of attention to water?

Germany Wins FIFA World Cup 2014

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Water: Dry Run

Urban water crises can be prevented, through concerted actions; in this book, we show you what to do, how to do it, wherever you are.

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THANK YOU!

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VIDEO

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DISCUSSION