As the value of clean water increases, industries are striving to reduce their consumption of fresh water through other means. One of these means is to reuse and conserve effluent water, storm water, wastewater and saline water. This process is often referred to as ‘water reclamation’.

Since water reclamation can satisfy a number of water demands, particularly for industries that require water for agriculture and cooling water for power plants and oil refineries, it’s becoming a hotter issue than ever before.

California state Senate has approved bills requiring oil companies to report how much water they use in their drilling operations and the water’s source. It will have ramifications across the nation for many years. With the interesting developing water and waste water market, we are interested to see what comes up when the conversation turns to water reclamation and conservation as time moves on.

Organizations like WEFTEC have designed session to discuss the growing demand for clean water worldwide. They discuss the best practices and the specifics of what goes into the maintenance of analytical methods used in the water reclamation process. We think these sessions are important – and are the best practices! Without learning what does/does not work, how can you enhance your own process?

There are many case studies about a water reclamation facility like in in Akron, OH, that needed to expand its treatment capacity and how the township accomplishes this goal. These studies focus on modifications while remaining compliant with government regulations. While situations vary, you can see how Akron modified their existing process without starting from scratch.

It’s important to remember that process instrumentation plays a huge role in the treatment of reclaimed water. Without process instrumentation, such as ultrasonic level and flow, DP level, and radar level technologies, measurements would be difficult: and could, create erroneous analysis throughout the water reclamation process.

What are the key process instrumentation questions you should ask when looking at your own process?

1. How much water have you used?
2. How much water has come back?
3. What happened in between to create the difference in water volume?

Once you’re able to determine these answers, you will be able to identify how much water you will be reclaiming and properly set the ground work for your analytical methods – from your primary clarifier to the final disinfection before you release the final product.

Remember, water isn’t an unlimited resource. It’s important to our industrial and agricultural growth, and the price keeps going up. With sanitation becoming harder to accomplish, due to man-made and natural influences, the best thing to do now is to figure out how you can use alternative means for your day-to-day operations – like water reclamation.