Water. desalination + reuse

COMMENT (According to a 3rd party industry publication of desalination market.) publication of desalination market.) Tel: +734.241.3935 Fax: +734.241.5173 www.fedco-usa.com sales@fedco-usa.com Making fluid energy work for you FEDCO is a global leader in the manufacture of high-pressure pumps and energy recovery devices (ERDs) for brackish and seawater RO systems. FEDCO's seawater RO high pressure product line sets the standard for the lowest life cycle cost, from mega-scale to small system applications. We can be your single-source for single and multi-stage centrifugal pump and ERD packages. FEDCO's brackish water RO product line uses modular components for optimal cost, efficiency, and delivery. The low pressure units can be configured as a feed pump, energy recovery, integrated motor-assisted turbocharger, and brine-driven turbo-generator. F L U I D E Q U I P M E N T D E V E L O P M E N T C O M P A N Y , L L C 8 0 0 T E R N E S D R I V E M O N R O E , M I 4 8 1 6 2 U S A MSB MSB MSB MSB: HPP for BWRO : HPP for BWRO : HPP for BWRO : HPP for BWRO SWRO PACKAGE MSS & HPB MSD: All duplex SS HPB HPB HPB HPB: Mega scale ERD : Mega scale ERD : Mega scale ERD : Mega scale ERD HP-HEMI: HP-HEMI: HP-HEMI: HP-HEMI: Mega scale ERD Mega scale ERD Mega scale ERD Mega scale ERD and system control and system control and system control and system control and system control SSD SSD SSD SSD: Mega scale HPP : Mega scale HPP : Mega scale HPP : Mega scale HPP LP-HEMI: Integrated HPP and ERD LPD: Brine to electricity Contact us today to learn more about the world's most innovative RO pumping and energy recovery products. FOR THE first time in its 25 years the US Environmental Protection Agency's US$ 5 billion-a-year water quality improvement loan programme has included industrial water reuse as a supported measure. Meanwhile the European Commission is looking into possible legislative intervention to spur reuse across the bloc. These are milestones in the march of industrial water reclamation. In truth, the advance of reuse in industry is a financially driven no-brainer – wastewater really is money down the drain. This issue of D&WR carries, in its cover story, some insightful scrutiny of water reclamation in the food industry. Elsewhere in the issue there are news tales of reuse projects including an agreement between chemical industry giants in China, a US$ 20 million public and private sector reuse collaboration in South Australia and a couple of indirect potable reuse projects in California. Where this advance meets its Waterloo (pun intended) is in potable reuse – direct, indirect or hybrids of the two. The obstacle is not a technical one – the science and engineering has been up to the task since 1968 when the Namibian capital Windhoek began a direct potable supply that is still in operation with no outbreaks of waterborne disease and no ill health attributed to it. Back in the developed world however, there is an apparent lack of trust in water purification technology. Even though so-called "unplanned" indirect potable reuse has been the norm for decades. However, an urban myth in London has it that your tap water has "been through seven people" before it reaches your teacup. Elsewhere it seems the revulsion against drinking water that originated in a sewer is so fierce that even in the teeth of a drought in San Diego, a PR advisor was deemed necessary to convince the population of the safety and value of potable reuse. And funding is available in the US and Australia for research into how potable reuse might be presented to the public. "Outrage mitigation" is, it seems, the challenge. However, not everybody is so fussy. In the moderately water-stressed areas of England's south, the utility suppliers are including indirect potable reuse in their near- term future investment plans. UK's Southern Water found that 96% of its consumers supported potable reuse. And abstraction reform in the UK is set to impose a cost- reflective burden on utility suppliers – one that responds to scarcity. So the site of Napoleon's demise isn't a truly fair metaphor for the place of potable reuse. Progress is being made. Potable reuse trials have been approved in Texas, Colorado, and California and the Water Reuse Research has recently funded seven more projects taking the year's tally to 11. When the burden or threat of water shortage reaches the right intensity and when regulatory reform costs water in line with its scarcity, "outrage" will evaporate and the Londoners' and Windhoekians' relaxed outlook will prevail. Dr Trevor Loveday Reuse: Waterloo to Windhoek editoR'scoRneR | 6 | desalination & Water Reuse | november-december 2014

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