Reuse of water is the future.
With the holiday season already upon us, we find ourselves reminiscing on all the things we are grateful for. Maybe time with family, a return to work, or just that summer night where you had the fishing boat all to yourself.
But how about access to potable water?
For those lucky enough to turn on a water tap and have clean water come out anytime they want it, that is a gift to be grateful for as much as any, yet it seems so normal that we rarely consider it, or how water scarcity impacts those not so fortunate.
How important is water to society?
It is not too hard to look at places that have access to clean water vs. not and see the difference in quality of life, societal wealth, and commerce. And, as populations grow, water availability will become more crucial, and water conservation will become ever more critical.
A great way to conserve water is to “reuse” it.
Many may be surprised how much water reuse occurs all around them, so let’s take a look at some examples, starting with the city.
How Wastewater is Reused in a City
If you are spending your time in a city this holiday, take San Antonio, Texas as an example, you might see a sign like this on the Riverwalk or a golf course.
This sign indicates that the landscape is irrigated with reused water from a wastewater treatment plant.
This sign is an indication that the water used to irrigate the landscape is reused water from the wastewater treatment plant.
How does that happen?
The San Antonio Water System (SAWS) has 12,000 miles of piping that carries potable water to and wastewater from the homes and businesses in and around the city.
In addition, they have more than 130 miles of pipe that delivers highly treated “recycled” water to golf courses, parks, and commercial/industrial customers throughout the city.
This reuse program is one of the most extensive and environmentally friendly programs in the country, and prevents precious aquifer water from being used where treated wastewater can easily be reused.
This type of reuse occurs in many cities and can always be recognized by the purple color of the pipe, easily distinguishing it from other piping.
SAWS utilizes advanced microbiological and membrane technology to treat wastewater, allowing immediate reuse and providing instant environmental benefits.
SAWS uses a combination of microbiological treatment and membrane technology to treat and filter its wastewater. These advanced technologies allow the treated water to be immediately reused, instead of discharging it to the environment where it will take time for evaporation, atmospheric movement, and rain to bring that water full cycle, thereby allowing the environment to benefit immediately.
Outside the city, specifically in the Oil & Gas industry, the implementation of reclamation operations like the one used in the city is best represented by a company like WaterFleet.
Water Conservation and Reuse on a Micro Scale
Unlike most cities, remote worksites are often located in areas without access to clean, fresh water, or wastewater processing capability.
In the past, the only viable solution to this lack of utility service was to haul water to the site, and haul wastewater away from the site.
This continuous transportation cycle of clean water and wastewater to and from work sites significantly adds to each remote worksite’s carbon footprint and leaves the workers on the site with difficult living and working conditions.
These types of activities are not sustainable for our environment going into 2021 and beyond.
WaterFleet Uses Technology to Reclaim Water at Remote Worksites
WaterFleet brought technology to this situation in the form of mobile micro utility services: The Water Rig, and The Reclaimer Rig.
These services allow water to be recycled twice on-site.
Non-potable water is cleaned to meet potable water standards, and then the wastewater is cleaned to be used on-site for industrial related activities.
The process reduces the environmental impact of water hauling, the potential dangers of on-site sewage storage, and the need for sewage hauling.
WaterFleet’s micro-scale technology enables water reuse across locations, saving truck miles and conserving water where it wasn’t possible before.
And as crucial as water reclamation operations are to you as a citizen in the city, this new technology on remote worksites dramatically changes the quality of life for a workforce even more.
In the same way that SAWS uses technology on a large scale to clean wastewater for reuse, WaterFleet uses similar technology on a micro scale to provide this opportunity across many locations, saving millions of truck miles from community roads, and allowing for water conserving reuse opportunities where they never existed before.
Reuse is the Future
Water Reuse technologies are a human achievement that we can all be grateful for.
It will be the norm in the future that will provide opportunities to protect our precious water sources and our environment, on both a major and a micro scale.
Contact us today to learn more about what we do.