Wasting away

“The challenge is to find a new and cost effective technology to treat wastewater, minimising infrastructure costs and operational energy related costs associated with current technologies and methods of treatment.”
-Derk Z. Maat

Water shortage is one of the biggest factors to take into consideration when developing infrastructure in the MENA region. How do you deal with this challenge?

Derk Z. Maat. Water recycling and reuse is the solution to the water shortage in the region. However the cost of treating wastewater to levels suitable for reuse is often expensive and represents a real technical challenge. The treatment of wastewater is energy intensive as well and as a result the cost of treatment will increase as energy prices are projected to increase by 30-50% over the next three years. The challenge is to find new and cost effective technology to treat wastewater, minimising infrastructure costs and operational energy related costs associated with current technologies and methods of treatment.  Wastewater generated from human activity and food production is characterised by high organic contaminant levels.  Biochemical approaches involving both mechanical processes in conjunction with advanced bio-processes represent the largest potential for cost savings and reuse/recycling of waste water for beneficial purposes. Coupled with this is a challenge to segregate water use into drinking water demand; grey water treatment and reuse; and black water treatment to grey water standards for reuse and recycling.

William Danshin. Our HGF-hydro automatic gravity filter technology provides low cost 'good water'. The biggest issue is that people and industries need to pay for 'good water'. A recent survey of global water providers found that water prices worldwide rose by 10 percent last year, well above inflation.

Water is today's issue, not a question. Water is the oil of this century; in fact, it is the world's most critical resource, more vital than oil as water sustains life and thus the global food chain.

What are the key advantages to be gained from water treatment and water reuse?

WD. Less than one percent of all water naturally available on earth is suitable for agriculture and potable use. Water treatment and reuse is not an option anymore, it is an absolute necessity. Existing or anticipated water shortages may lead regulators to restrict or prohibit housing development in certain regions. Municipalities may restrict or place moratoriums on the availability of utilities, such as water and sewer tap. Homes consume 11 percent of all the freshwater in the United States. Agriculture accounts for roughly 70 percent of water use globally, with this share rising as high as 90 percent in some developing countries. Agricultural water use has doubled over the past century.

Beverage manufacturers can lose their license to operate when their water use comes into direct conflict with the priorities of local communities. Beverage makers face risks of agricultural commodity shortages and higher prices due to drought. Reduced water for cooling and higher temperatures of available water poses increased regulatory risk for electric utilities. Hydro Power is likely to be most directly affected by climate change because of its sensitivity to the amount and timing of natural water flows. Constraints on water resources make companies more susceptible to reputation risks. Contamination of coastal surface and groundwater resources due to sea level rise and resulting saltwater intrusion, is also a problem, as is increased algal and bacterial blooms due to increased water temperatures.

DZM. The key advantages to be released from wastewater treatment and water reuse include the significant overall reduction of total water demand; a reduction in the carbon footprint associated with water supply by other methods, such as desalination; reduction in the cost of water supply to consumers; and the development of closed loop systems for industry and commercial enterprises.

Sustainability is becoming increasingly important in the MENA region. How can wastewater solutions improve sustainability in the region?

DZM. Sustainability is the key. The use and reuse of water by consumers and industries and commercial enterprises has to be analysed from new perspectives that take into account a number of factors.

First, the sustainability and limits of water supply sources, such as groundwater and fresh surface water supplies in view of climate change are dwindling rapidly and are no longer unlimited. Second, a water resource depletion cost has to be entered into the financial modelling of new infrastructure projects and the long-term costs of desalination must be considered in relation to energy costs.

Third, the actual quality requirements for different water use - such as potable drinking water requirements or grey water use requirements - must be considered, as well as the actual demand for each industrial plant and the potential for reuse and recycling within the plant for grey water uses or process water uses. Fourth, the lifecycle cost of water use for each industrial activity must be considered in order to determine the demand over lifetime of the facility. And finally, the carbon footprint generated by water demand and use by consumers, commercial enterprises and industry must be considered - for example it may make no sense to locate a plant in a water scare area that has extremely high water demand requirements - or it may make little sense to locate a population centre in an area with scarce water resources that would generate a large investment to supply water and sustain the demand over time.

WD. Millions globally lack safe drinking water. Increases in agricultural and industrial production, coupled with a lack of adequate wastewater treatment inhibit access to safe drinking water for almost 900 million people worldwide. Five million die each year from water-related illness. More than one-third of the world's population - roughly 2.4 billion people - lives in water stressed regions. By 2025, that number is expected to rise to two-thirds. By 2030, the earth's projected eight billion inhabitants will need 25 percent more freshwater.

There is not enough low cost 'good water' in the MENA region. Wastewater recycling and reuse is an necessity now, along with severe water conservation techniques.

How do you see the wastewater industry developing over the next five years? What do you envisage will be the biggest drivers?

WD. We need to find ways to establish financing and funding of joint-ventures with government-corporations-stakeholders to clean or recycle wastewater for industrial and commercial needs first, and provide 'good water' to many global companies and countries that are now or will be in critical and desperate situations due to lack of water.  This has global implications for peace on earth.

The biggest drivers will be trying to maintain sustainable economies, corporations, communities and food production for a growing global population. Water is now worth more than oil.

DZM. I see, in light of the limits of water supply and in light of the increasing demand and cost for treating waste water, that the waste water industry has to refocus from supplying concrete, pipes, pumps and mechanical processes to developing new biochemical processes. These processes will significantly increase the efficiency of treatment via bio reactions, reduce the generation of waste such as biosolids, reduce the use of energy and consequently reduce the cost and carbon foot print of waste water treatment. In addition the wastewater industry in conjunction with the residential/commercial/industry will have to develop new designs to segregate water quality demand for different uses and design appropriate systems for treatment, reuse and recycling. The biggest drivers will be the public demand for clean water at an affordable cost and demonstrated methods and technologies to live within our "water footprint" that limit our carbon footprint. We live in a world where climate change is dramatically affecting everything we have assumed as constant with respect to water resources that have been entrusted to us for management and conservation.

Derk Z. Maat has 40 years of engineering and corporate management expertise in applying a wide range of environmental technologies to solid waste and wastewater management. Mr. Maat has been involved in consulting, design, construction, engineering, and technology development for clients across North America and around the world. As CEO and President of Scicorp International Corp he has developed a wide range of micronutrient products for the stimulation of organic liquid and solid waste systems that has resulted in dramatic system performance improvements while at the same time eliminating odour issues in almost every application.