Call for solutions – WSS

A new commercial scale dyeing technology for dyeing synthetic fabric, DyeOx, has been implemented in Taiwan that utilises carbon dioxide (C02) instead of water in the dyeing process. The technology uses no water, no auxiliary chemicals and reduced energy when compared to conventional processes.

The technology was conceived at DELFT University and commercialized by the start up DyeCoo and Tong Siang Co., a dyehouse in Thailand.

Nike, the global sportswear chain, recognizing the potential of the technology in helping to achieve its sustainability objectives, entered into a strategic partnership with DyeCoo in 2012 to implement the waterless dyeing technology in one of their Taiwanese factories. This led to a further three Taiwanese factories, who supply other major sportswear brands such as Adidas, making the investment decision to implement the technology.

In a search for improved irrigation practices, three farms near Milan, installed a drip irrigation system coupled with soil moisture monitoring as part of the AquaTEK™ programme. This system allows farmers to irrigate only when needed, without stressing the plants by supplying too much or too little water. The system also allows for more precise application of fertilisers (fertigation), and thus minimises the leaching of excess nutrients into the ground.

The intervention was developed and implemented through a public private partnership between Monsanto, NETAFIM™ Italia, HydroBio Inc and the University of Milan.

The Lake Victoria Environmental Management Project (LVEMP) is a cross border initiative funded by the World Bank designed to rehabilitate some of the major environmental concerns present in the Lake Victoria Basin.

One of the pollution hot spots targeted under the program was the Kibos Sugar and Allied Industries factory (KSAI) in Kisumu, Kenya. Under a resource efficient and cleaner production project, the factory reduced pollutant loads of its effluent discharge by 70%. This was achieved through a series of process efficiency measures including metering & controlling, leakage reparation, water reuse and improved wastewater treatment.

The government and its regulators require all water companies in England and Wales to plan water resources at least 25 years ahead to ensure secure supplies. This is a twin track approach where the company must consider the cost-effectiveness of demand management measures before they propose resource developments. In 2009 compulsory water metering was identified as the preferred option for meeting the supply demand gap and in 2010 SWS commenced a five year project to install 500,000 intelligent meters. This was accompanied by significant customer engagement and an aggressive leakage reduction programme in order to demonstrate that the company was also working to reduce losses. The metering programme resulted in a 16.5% reduction in water demand.

Yanacocha implemented a comprehensive water management strategy at the mine releasing 35 000 000m3 of treated effluent per year into the local river. Furthermore, as part of a proposed expansion and in order to address environmental concerns and ongoing disputes over water, it decided to extend its water management programme beyond the mine boundary.

In March 2012, Yanacocha formed a public private partnership (PPP) with the City of Cajamarca and the Cajamarca Water and Sewerage Company (SEDACAJ) and agreed to invest $13 000 000 between 2012 and 2020 to finance new water infrastructure projects in Cajamarca. This long-term investment project is administered by the Association of Los Andes Cajamarca – ALAC (a local NGO).

Weak enforcement of groundwater licencing and effluent treatment standards has led to high rates of water use in the textile mills and discharge of toxic effluents into the surface water bodies.

The Water PaCT Bangladesh is a partnership founded to drive the wet processing textile sector in the country towards a more sustainable performance and better water and resource efficiency. The partnership is sponsored by the Kingdom of the Netherlands and numerous international apparel buyers and implemented by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), Solidaridad and the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA). PaCT helps individual factories identify and implement Cleaner Production (CP) measures in water, energy and chemical use in the dye house, within the factories’ utilities and effluent treatment plants (ETPs), and through housekeeping. These measures are typically low-cost and easy to implement bringing quick investment return to the factories.

Egypt has less than 700 m3 per capita per annum freshwater availability of which 85% is withdrawn for irrigation purposes. The Integrated Irrigation Improvement and Management Project (IIIMP) in the Nile Delta has been implemented to improve water distribution, quantity, quality, equity and timeliness and hence to increase agricultural production and alleviate poverty.

The Arvind textile mill located near Kalol, Ahmedabad District, India uses over 6.5 million m3 of process water per year. Limitations on groundwater extraction coupled with the lack of a nearby location for effluent discharge led to the implementation of a complete water reuse system.

The total water available from the local aquifers is approximately 1.5 million m3/yr with the rest of the process water being provided through wastewater re-use. The unit cost of re-using process waste water was between $4-6 /m3 which is a very high unit cost particularly when compared to ground water abstraction rates.

In addition, operational responsibilities were decentralized and the irrigation infrastructure was transferred to local water user associations (WUA); a key requirement for the financing provided by IBRD (World Bank).

The locally prioritized improvement plans by the WUAs delivered the rehabilitation of the irrigation system supplying water to 427 100 hectares of farmland. The reduction in leakage in the system coupled with improved on-farm water management made 1 183 million m3 of water available for use and directly benefitted 1.1 million irrigation farmers.

So a plan was launched to increase groundwater recharge through the construction of six recharge structures. Scheduled training programs for local farmers on water efficiency practices were also implemented to reduce withdrawal for agricultural purposes.

This is benefiting more than 4 000 farms on a regular basis. In addition, water efficient agricultural practices were showcased by 136 knowledge farms covering 105 ha in 68 villages. The project was financed by SABMiller India. The initiative has improved the management of the local deep aquifer and the security of supply for the Roches Brewery in Neemrana.

The water services provider, Rustenburg Municipality, was rated as the 3rd most distressed in South Africa and thus unable to raise the finance required to address the problems. To address this challenge, a joint initiative was undertaken between the mines and the municipality to establish a Special Purpose Vehicle (SPV) with a 22-year concession to finance, upgrade and operate water infrastructure. The key to the success of the SPV was the signing of a long term offtake agreement with the mines for the provision of non-potable treated wastewater. This forms 75% of the SPV’s revenue. The mines previously relied on freshwater that was imported from neighboring catchments. The move to the use of non-potable has enabled the re-allocation of the imported freshwater to the municipality thus increasing the overall freshwater resource that is available in the catchment. Partial improvements in downstream water quality have also been made through better wastewater treatment.

As part of China’s 5 year plan launched in 2011, all of China’s textile manufacturers must cut energy and water use by 16% and 30% respectively by 2015 or face a penalty fine or closure. Yuyue is a supplier of the global furniture chain IKEA. Upon encouragement from IKEA, the factory joined the IFC China Water Program in 2012. The IFC and IKEA contributed to the cost of conducting water and energy efficiency audits. Interventions, funded by Yuyue, were made to upgrade machinery and control systems. Total water withdrawal was reduced by 325 000 m3 per year and energy consumption was reduced by 8 874 MWh per year.

The Shafdan Wastewater Treatment Facility is Israel’s largest wastewater treatment and reuse facility. The facility is located south of Tel Aviv, close to the coast and supplies approximately 140 000 000 m3 per year of reclaimed water to the Negev Desert in the south of Israel for agricultural use on 50 000 acres of irrigated lands.

A forward-thinking public-private partnership (PPP) deal between the Hindustan Zinc and the local government (Udaipur Municipal Corporation and Rajasthan State-Owned Urban Improvement Trust) was formed in May 2012 to develop the city`s first Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) which addressed both stakeholders objectives.

WETT, forecasts the projected business-as-usual (BAU) water demand of individual operations and establish a register of cost effective water efficiency interventions. It then links the two to identify future performance targets. By the end of 2014, the WETT program had achieved the corporate water reduction target originally set for 2020 (a 13.9% reduction on projected BAU use).

The Pakyurek seafood processing plant located in Adana primarily produces canned marinated anchovy. The groundwater aquifer, from which the plant is abstracting fresh water for its operations, has been recognised as extremely vulnerable to climate change. The company was selected to participate in the UN Joint Programme “MDG-F 1680 Enhancing the Capacity of Turkey to Adopt Climate Change”, as it operates in a priority industrial sector in the Seyhan River Basin. The programme provided Pakyurek with partial funding and technical advice in order to improve its water footprint. The evaluation of the anchovy processing revealed potential for water reuse and waste minimisation.

Water treatment units were installed in the thawing (defrosting with water) and gutting stages to reduce water withdrawals by up to 70%. An oil separator was fitted within the new wastewater system and valuable fish oils were recovered as a by product. The project was delivered with the support of the Technology Development Foundation of Turkey (TTGV) in collaboration with the Middle East Technical University(METU) and was partially financed by the United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO).

With annual precipitation of 1 000–1 500mm, Lake Taihu gets fair amount of rain but not enough to meet the growing demands of industries located on the lake (chemical, metal, printing, dying industries) and the rapidly growing population. Since the last major algae bloom in April 2007, licence to operate has only been given to industrial plants that control their effluent discharges and air emissions tightly and reduce their water intake from the lake. This environment, together with a national policy on sustainable water resource management under the China 12th five-year plan of 2011-2015 has led to the implementation of the most rigorous zero liquid discharge treatment.

Operational since May 2015, the wastewater treatment process produces annually 231 000 m3 of treated effluent collected from the Flue Gas Desulphurisation (FGD) process and cooling tower blow-down and reused in the boiler feedwater purification system. The softening pretreatment sludge is disposed of in a landfill and salts from the process are dried to >95.5% solids and sold to the local chemical industry, cutting the wastewater discharge to zero.

Activities have included raising of the Flag Boshielo Dam and the construction of the De Hoop dam together with associated delivery infrastructure. Half of the new infrastructure capacity is reserved for 800 000 domestic users, with the rest targeted towards economic growth. The initial phase of the intervention was completely funded by the mining sector while later phases are publically funded. The project increased the storage, catchment yield and conveyance capacity in the Olifants River catchment to reduce barriers to economic growth.

Located on the Pacific coast in the Ica Valley desert, it has ideal, sunny weather conditions for growing crops all-year-round, but is impacted by water scarcity. With an annual rainfall of only 3mm per year, the main water source for the farm has been the underground aquifer. However, with agriculture farms booming and more farmers drilling for water, the aquifer levels have dropped from 35m to 50m between 2000 and 2012, and salinity levels have increased. In 2011 the Government issued a regulation prohibiting any new wells to be drilled in the area, forcing local farmers to relocate or adapt to new conditions.

The Ica Home Farm commenced a program to adapt to the new circumstances. In 2011 it installed a Reverse Osmosis (RO) plant that treats 200 000m3/yr of saline groundwater. Between 2012 – 2014, the farm implemented a series of measures to reduce its water withdrawals including the introduction of a new conduction and pruning system for melon seeds, a new grafting technique for watermelons, the installation of moisture sensors and transitioning from soil to soilless cultivation.

SamSamWater Foundation in collaboration with NGO Chamavita and the community in Kwemakame in Tanzania successfully implemented a small scale aquifer recharge scheme capturing the rainwater runoff from the rocky steep slopes of the local Usambara mountain range. The area suffers from reduced rate of infiltration due to deforestation, resulting in higher runoff from exposed bedrock and increase in water abstraction due to rapid population growth.

The ongoing water scarcity crisis poses a major threat to the economic stability of the industrial sector and Jordan as a whole.  The USAID Water Reuse and Environmental Conservation Programme ran from 2010-2015. Two of its four major tasks focused on institutional capacity building and pollution prevention for industry.

The project team worked with the Ministry of Environment (MoEnv) to build their regulatory capacity and strengthen national capacity to analyse industrial water use and effluent discharges. The programme targeted 30 factories in which detailed water and energy efficiency audits were conducted. This drove a programme of interventions that were self financed by the 30 target facilties and reduced water withdrawals by 739 000 m3 per annum.

In 1988, under pressure from environmental and conservation groups, the government initiated a series of legislative changes in an attempt to restore the wetlands and better regulate aquifer withdrawal. Implementation has proved to be challenging, with local farmers in particular concerned that restrictions on abstraction would impact on their livelihood. The 2008 Upper Guardiana Basin Plan identified a range of ambitious further measures to manage water resources.

The Southern Gobi Region has little to no surface water. In order to maximise productivity in this water stressed environment, the mine have installed extensive water reuse systems, highly efficient tailings, zero/low water use equipment and floating lagoon covers to reduce evaporative losses.

The negative perception of the mining industry in the region is being tackled through the formation of the South Gobi Water and Mining Industry Roundtable. The mine have been able to share their good water management practices, as well as effective community engagement strategies, with other mines in the region in order to promote good practice across the industry.

In 2011, the Catalan Water Agency decided to construct the Camp de Tarragona Water Reclamation Plant. This plant treats municipal secondary effluent collected from two urban wastewater treatment plants (WWTP Tarragona and WWTP Vila Seca-Salou) and generates 6.8 million m3 of reclaimed effluent per year for use in water for cooling towers and boilers at the local petrochemical complex.

This approach was supported by the Chemical Business Association of Tarragona (AEQT) and Tarragona Industrial Water Company (AITASA) that represented the trade and technological needs of the industrial end-users operating at the Complex, such as Dow Chemical and Repsol. The project was financed by the EU Cohesion Funds (85%) and the Catalonian Government and the Spanish Ministry of the Environment (15%).

The project was delivered in the Bellavista community in Villa del Triunfo settlement after consideration of the geographical suitability of the location and the community eagerness to participate.

The industry is also heavily reliant on the availability of energy, water and resources and vulnerable to climate change. A pilot project was launched in the Advansa SASA chemical plant in Adana to assess the benefits of sustainable production practices within the industry including measures to reduce cooling water use

FruitLook (www.fruitlook.co.za) is an open web portal that runs during the grape and deciduous fruit season of October to April in the Western Cape Province of South Africa.

The service is governmentally funded by the Western Cape Department of Agriculture to encourage efficient water use in agriculture and minimise losses due to surplus use. Via the website farmers have access to spatial data based on satellite information to analyse crop growth and water status over time and space.

Scaling-up of Micro Irrigation Systems (SCAMPIS) implemented between 2009-2012, and aimed to increase farm productivity to create surpluses for local consumption and markets. Through a focus on financial support mechanisms and supply-chain capacity building, the project engaged with 8 800 households in the adoption of Micro-Irrigation technology across five districts in Madagascar. Uptake of the Micro Irrigation Systems (MIS) led to a 41% increase in agricultural productivity and a 69% reduction in water abstraction.

Concurrently, the price of water in Melbourne rose from $0.91 per m3 in 2007 to $2.57 per m3 in 2015. The VRC responded to these events by seeking cost effective opportunities to reduce the Racecourse’s dependence on fresh water. VRC invested in a new borehole based desalination technology, extracting water from a brackish aquifer. This supplies VRC with 113 000 m3 of ‘new water’ per year for irrigation and non-potable use. This meets nearly 30% of the annual fresh water demand from the site. Energy costs are minimised through direct return of the concentrated salts into the bottom of the aquifer.

The farm has demonstrated a new High Frequency Intermittent Drip Irrigation System (HFDI) technology, which combines an automatic fertigation system with drip irrigation methodology that doses in short 4-9 minute shifts. The automated system monitors chemical and physical conditions in the upper levels of the root zone in real time and fertigates accordingly.  When benchmarked against industry standards based on the utilisation of conventional drip irrigation, the system provides an increase in yield of 65% and 126% for asparagus and pomegranate respectively per m3 of water applied.

The project achieved a reduction in water abstraction from the initial 2 000 m3 per day to 0 m3 per day by treating the condensate to a potable level and re-using it in the manufacturing process. Residual wastewater is treated and utilised for cooling and cleaning. The project was driven by the need to protect the future license to operate and by anticipating the future increases in water costs. The project was justified on the long-term rather than short term business case and contributes to meeting Nestlé`s commitment for reducing its overall direct water withdrawals by 40% by 2015.

Since 2008 the plant has been under pressure to reduce its water use. Firstly to reduce the overall cost of water that was as high as $3.05 per m3, and secondly to help SCC lower its water use of water per beer ratio under 3.5 hectolitre per hectolitre (Hl/Hl) and meet the goals of the Heineken`s Brewing a Better World plan. The SCC originally installed Reverse Osmosis (RO) tertiary treatment in 2008 that was operational until 2012. However, the system was experiencing frequent shutdowns and was not performing satisfactorily. An external partner, GE Water and Power, was then brought in to optimise the process. Between 2012 and 2014, the project succeeded in increasing the production performance of the system by 58% reducing the amount of shutdowns by fivefold. The RO treatment is now producing 82 000m3 per year and reduces the water withdrawal from local municipality that allows for this water to be used by higher priority customers elsewhere.

The Water Insights initiative was delivered as part of a wider water efficiency program, which included home water audits, water efficient retrofits, and rebates for low flush toilets and water efficient landscapes. The programs were initiated in order to achieve the 20% reduction in water use by 2020, as mandated by the Cali