Gavin van Tonder
Water resources are not finite, and the age-old way of managing them is fueling the water scarcity crisis.
As a holistic approach to solving water scarcity, integrated resource management considers water demand profiles to optimize the efficient use of water. Here, I share my thoughts on how we can begin to solve the water scarcity crisis using an integrated approach to water resource management.
What is integrated resource management?
Global water scarcity has been intensified by rapid population growth and an overwhelming demand for water. That demand now exceeds the available supply — and water management as we know it cannot fulfill these ever-increasing needs.
Rethinking water utilization, treatment, and reuse methods is integral to fostering sustainability, and more focus is now being placed on integrated resource management as a solution to the world’s lack of water.
Integrated resource management considers all of the different types of water available within your portfolio — be it river water, water from desalination, effluent sewage, or recycled water from industry — which enables you to tailor water for what it can actually be used for.
For example: A new, developing city might need to desalinate 100% of its water because groundwater is unavailable. This means that 100% of the wastewater would then need to be treated, 95% of which would be recycled water that can be fed into the water resource portfolio.
Using recycled water as a replacement for desalination also reduces the overall cost of the water portfolio, not only because it eliminates the need to desalinate water, but also reduces the size of the infrastructure and the amount of energy needed to pump water. Put simply, the wastewater is being reused where it has been created.
Challenges facing integrated approaches to resource management
A big obstacle to wastewater recycling is inadequate infrastructure, particularly in older cities like London or Paris, where a lack of ground space and limits to existing infrastructure pose a challenge to installing recycling facilities and pipes. Moreover, treating wastewater is costly; although, when done properly, it can yield benefits such as reusing solids as fertilizer and generating energy from methane.
However, while some countries have successfully implemented cost-effective wastewater treatment plants and recovered enough value from the process to offset the initial costs, there needs to be a broader willingness to invest in wastewater treatment infrastructure. Outsourcing this endeavor to private companies on a build-own-operate basis could also be a viable solution.
Where, how and when to use water: Inefficient vs efficient approaches to resource management
Currently, less than 10% of the world practices wastewater reuse. Approximately 40% treat wastewater for environmental release, while 60% dispose of untreated wastewater directly into the environment.
The practice of putting this water back into the environment pollutes an already scarce resource and also makes the water less useful at a later date. Opting to treat all of the wastewater and reusing 100% of it without putting it back into the environment reduces the offtake of water, whether it comes from desalination, rivers, lakes, or dams.
District cooling — which is prevalent in the Middle East and consumes substantial water and energy — is another example of inefficient resource management. Up to 30% of the region’s energy is dedicated to this purpose alone. The existence of water scarcity makes using fresh water for cooling problematic. Coastal areas can opt to use seawater, a sustainable cooling source, which is extracted from deeper, colder sea layers to minimize environmental impact.
For non-coastal regions, recycled wastewater from treatment plants is a preferable option for district cooling. The discharged water from cooling can also find later purpose in landscaping or agriculture, optimizing water usage across the portfolio and strategically reducing overall water demand in the region.
This is a good example of looking at a region’s water demand profile across the whole portfolio and targeting where, when, and how water can be utilized most effectively — therefore reducing the overall demand within the region.
Qatium Experts
Gavin Van Tonder is the Executive Director of Water at NEOM, a new region under development in Saudi Arabia, and was previously the President for Water at Itron. Gavin is one of many experts that we co-create with Qatium.
