With water sustainability becoming one of the key challenges for businesses in the coming decades, we look at the methods already being used to save companies money and resources in the fight to preserve our water supplies.

1. The challenges and the innovations
TECHNOLOGY AND THE FUTURE
OF WATER TREATMENT

2. What are the challenges?
 According to the United Nations, by the year
2025, 1.8 billion people will be living in water
scarcity.
 The demand for irrigation is estimated to rise
15%
 This , in turn, will most likely lead to food
shortages.
 From a business perspective, companies are
being forced to ask what would happen if they
didn’t have access to clean or safe water.

3. What’s the future outlook?
 Businesses are investing in technologies to
better utilise and recycle water.
 Both business start ups and massive
corporations are beginning to look into new
water projects.
 Strategies which raise awareness of problems
such as drought, global warming and water
shortages are likely to benefit businesses in
the long term.

4. What are the methods that
businesses could use in future?
 Desalination
 Desalination tech is becoming more efficient,
and is especially useful in economies with arid
climates, e.g Saudi Arabia, Israel.
 San Diego, California, is the site of the largest
desalination plant, and will offset 7% of that
county’s water consumption.
 A Beijing desalination plant, due to be
completed in 2019, will provide one third of that
country’s water.

5. What are the methods that
businesses could use in future?
 High-tech filtration
 Scientists are becoming more inventive with
their purification and filtration methods.
 One form of the technology, developed in
Michigan, USA, turns cow manure into
filtered water, and then a form of fertiliser.
 The filtered water can also be fed back to
livestock, increasing the recycling potential.
 100 gallons of manure = 50 gallons of pure
water.

6. What are the methods that
businesses could use in future?
 Nanotechnology in water purification
 Researchers at the Indian Institute of
Technology have developed a nanoparticle
filtration system.
 It has the ability to remove lead and arsenic
from the water, with nanoparticles trapping
lead and arsenic ions.

7. What are the methods that
businesses could use in future?
Irrigation controllers
 Invented by the United States Environmental
Protection Agency, irrigation controllers.
 Irrigation systems such as home sprinklers
have thermostat controllers, which can match
watering schedules to local weather
conditions, and landscaping conditions.
 Watering plants purely on need is estimated
to save up to 8,800 gallons for the average
home.

8. What are the methods that
businesses could use in future?
Changing toilet design
 Engineers at Caltech have come up with a
new toilet design that can turn waste into
fertiliser.
 Recycled water is pumped back up and used
again, and the toilet’s design means that it
would not have to be hooked up to a sewer
network.

9. What are the methods that
businesses could use in future?
Greater access to data
 If water recycling and usage is to be more
efficient, information is key.
 Organisations such as Watrhub are looking to
provide up to the minute information about
water scarcity and water treatment.
 Companies and corporations would be able to
create profiles to allow for greater
transparency with regards to water usage.

10. Examples & case studies
 Logistics companies such as GE are working
with industry to help maximise water
efficiency.
 For example, Nestle’s Pizza Division in
Wisconsin, USA, has managed to save 7.4
million gallons of water through the usage of
GE’s advanced chemical water treatment
technology in its cooling towers.

11. Presentation by
http://greaves.co.uk/