Integrated Water Management

Contact: Kevin Prior Date: February 13, 2007

What was the problem?

In many organisations, clean water and dirty water are often managed (procured and disposed of) separately. As a result, companies miss opportunities to “cascade” water usage from cleaner to progressively more dirty, and as a result miss out on costs savings both on water “in” and on water “out”.

Effluent and waste management are often low priority topics for many plant managers, and clean water is more often than not considered as a consumable rather than as a raw material. (Since in Europe water is a low cost item there is usually no cost driver to including water in a Bill of Materials.)

Taking an integrated view of water in the production plant can however highlight cost savings both in terms of supply and terms of disposal.

What was the answer?

CookPrior take a methodical approach to auditing all sources of water coming into and going out of processes. The next step is to match usage with the minimum water quality. Then CookPrior perform an integrated water management analysis. They do this by reviewing the findings with you to identify opportunities and targets where the use of fresh water can be reduced and where alternative raw water supplies can be used. They also look at similar opportunities for minimising effluent production and water reuse.

Starting with low costs solutions - washing wagons with freely available rainwater is one option - then moving onto more capital intensive sources or disposal methods, CookPrior build up clear opportunities for taking costs out of the business and putting margin straight back onto the bottom line.

What was the outcome?

When one client started to use a source of high quality water from another part of his business which had previously gone down the drain, he saved 80% of his existing mains water usage. The knock-on effect of this, of course, is that he also reduced how much effluent went down the drain as well, reducing disposal costs into the bargain.

Clients can of course point to wider environmental benefits:

  • the fewer tanker trips disposing of effluent mean a reduction in greenhouse gas emissions.
  • lower water usage means a lower strain on raw water reserves and treatment plants.

In addition to a convincing cost case, this approach can also be used as a solution to some IPPC regulatory requirements.

For more information or advice on how CookPrior can help Market Innovation in your organisation please e-mail Kevin Prior or Diana Cook
call +44 (0) 1890-818050