TECHNOLOGY AND THE FUTURE OF WATER TREATMENT

The challenges and the innovations

What are the challenges?

According to the United Nations, by the year 2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in water scarcity.

The demand for irrigation is estimated to rise 15%

This , in turn, will most likely lead to food shortages.

From a business perspective, companies are being forced to ask what would happen if they didn’t have access to clean or safe water.

What’s the future outlook? Businesses are investing in technologies

to better utilise and recycle water. Both business start ups and massive

corporations are beginning to look into new water projects.

Strategies which raise awareness of problems such as drought, global warming and water shortages are likely to benefit businesses in the long term.

What are the methods that businesses could use in future? Desalination Desalination tech is becoming more

efficient, and is especially useful in economies with arid climates, e.g Saudi Arabia, Israel.

San Diego, California, is the site of the largest desalination plant, and will offset 7% of that county’s water consumption.

A Beijing desalination plant, due to be completed in 2019, will provide one third of that country’s water.

What are the methods that businesses could use in future?

High-tech filtration Scientists are becoming more inventive with

their purification and filtration methods. One form of the technology, developed in

Michigan, USA, turns cow manure into filtered water, and then a form of fertiliser.

The filtered water can also be fed back to livestock, increasing the recycling potential.

100 gallons of manure = 50 gallons of pure water.

What are the methods that businesses could use in future?

Nanotechnology in water purification

Researchers at the Indian Institute of Technology have developed a nanoparticle filtration system.

It has the ability to remove lead and arsenic from the water, with nanoparticles trapping lead and arsenic ions.

What are the methods that businesses could use in future?

Irrigation controllers Invented by the United States

Environmental Protection Agency, irrigation controllers.

Irrigation systems such as home sprinklers have thermostat controllers, which can match watering schedules to local weather conditions, and landscaping conditions.

Watering plants purely on need is estimated to save up to 8,800 gallons for the average home.

What are the methods that businesses could use in future?

Changing toilet design Engineers at Caltech have come up

with a new toilet design that can turn waste into fertiliser.

Recycled water is pumped back up and used again, and the toilet’s design means that it would not have to be hooked up to a sewer network.

What are the methods that businesses could use in future?

Greater access to data If water recycling and usage is to be

more efficient, information is key. Organisations such as Watrhub are

looking to provide up to the minute information about water scarcity and water treatment.

Companies and corporations would be able to create profiles to allow for greater transparency with regards to water usage.

Examples & case studies

Logistics companies such as GE are working with industry to help maximise water efficiency.

For example, Nestle’s Pizza Division in Wisconsin, USA, has managed to save 7.4 million gallons of water through the usage of GE’s advanced chemical water treatment technology in its cooling towers.

Presentation by http://greaves.co.uk/