Treated wastewater can meet the needs of municipal applications, such as irrigation for public spaces, freeing up limited freshwater resources for other critical uses.
Water reuse can create a more resilient water supply, ensuring the sustainability of urban growth
Water scarcity has become a critical issue in drought-prone regions worldwide, driven by climate change, population growth, and overextraction of water resources. Municipalities in these areas are increasingly looking for innovative and sustainable solutions to manage their water supplies effectively.
One such solution is water reuse, which allows for the recycling of wastewater into water that can be used for various applications, providing a dependable alternative to conventional water sources. Recycling water for reuse offers municipalities facing water scarcity enhanced water security, cost savings, and a reduced carbon footprint by diversifying water supply, lowering treatment costs, and employing energy-efficient technologies.
Mitigating Water Scarcity
Water reuse involves treating wastewater to a level where it can be safely used for nonpotable applications, including agricultural and landscaping irrigation, toilet flushing, and dust control. It can even be used as drinking water with additional treatment. This is especially valuable in drought-prone regions where natural water sources such as rivers, lakes, and underground aquifers are under pressure.
In many cases, treated wastewater can meet the needs of municipal applications, freeing up limited freshwater resources for other critical uses. Water reuse helps mitigate the risks associated with erratic rainfall and dwindling water reserves, ensuring long-term sustainability for communities.
What are some of the technologies and solutions that are making this possible?
Water Reuse Technologies
Existing wastewater treatment plants can be upgraded with MABR towers.
Fluence provides a variety of water treatment technologies for reuse, including:
- Membrane aerated biofilm reactor (MABR): MABR technology, as mentioned earlier, is particularly useful for decentralized water reuse systems. Its energy-efficient passive aeration process enables high removal rates of nutrients with minimal energy input, reducing operating costs. The modular nature of Fluence MABR systems allows municipalities to scale up or down depending on water demand.
- Membrane bioreactor (MBR): MBR technology combines biological treatment and membrane filtration, making it highly effective for municipal wastewater treatment. It produces high-quality effluent that can be reused for irrigation, industrial processes, and even potable purposes after further treatment. MBR systems are compact and can be easily integrated into existing water infrastructure.
- Anaerobic membrane bioreactor (An-MBR): Fluence’s An-MBR technology combines anaerobic digestion with MBR. During this process, anaerobic microorganisms break down organic pollutants in an oxygen-free environment, producing methane-rich biogas. The solid digestate is filtered and separated from the effluent as it passes through the membranes, alleviating the need for centrifuges and dissolved air flotation to separate the solids from the liquid component. An-MBR offers a sustainable solution for treating wastewater, producing high-quality recycled water, clean energy, and a concentrated, nutrient-rich sludge that can be used as a soil enhancer.
- Reverse osmosis (RO): For potable water reuse, reverse osmosis is often employed as the final purification step. This technology filters out dissolved salts, chemicals, and biological contaminants, ensuring that treated wastewater meets stringent drinking water standards.
Fluence’s decentralized wastewater treatment approach is particularly well-suited to drought-prone regions because it lets municipalities install smaller, flexible systems that can be adapted to local conditions without requiring significant investment in infrastructure. Our water reuse options take advantage of membrane aerated biofilm reactor (MABR) technology, which is known for its energy efficiency and effectiveness in treating wastewater to a high standard.
Fluence can provide a full water and wastewater treatment solution that combines desalination and water reuse. This option includes a containerized NIROBOX™ water treatment plant that produces potable water from seawater, brackish water, or fresh water, used in conjunction with a containerized Aspiral™ Flex wastewater treatment plant that can use activated sludge or MABR technology to treat wastewater for nonpotable reuse.
Fluence’s Water Management Services and Water Reuse
While utilities may lack the experience or capacity to implement a water reuse program, professional help is available. Fluence, a global water treatment company, offers Reuse-as-a-Service (RaaS) as part of its Water Management Services solution, providing municipalities with the technology and expertise needed to implement effective water reuse systems. With Water Management Services, municipalities don’t have to worry about financing, building, or operating a plant. Fluence takes care of everything, giving municipal managers peace of mind while allowing them to focus on other responsibilities.
Financing can be one of the biggest obstacles municipalities face when trying to implement a water reuse program, particularly for those with limited public funds. Water Management Services addresses this challenge through build-own-operate (BOO) and build-own-operate-transfer (BOOT) contracts, which offer a financially viable way for municipalities to implement water reuse technologies without having to invest any upfront capital.
Under a BOO agreement, Fluence designs, builds, and operates a water treatment facility on behalf of a municipality, taking on the operational risk and ensuring that the facility runs efficiently. In return, the municipality pays for the treated water on a per-unit basis, allowing them to access state-of-the-art technology. With BOOT, ownership of the water treatment facility is transferred to the municipality at the end of the agreed contract term.
Water reuse offers a viable and promising solution for municipalities in drought-prone regions, addressing water scarcity and ensuring long-term water security. With innovative treatment technologies, municipalities can treat wastewater to a high standard. Additionally, Fluence’s Water Management Services offers flexible financing agreements that let cities implement these systems without the burden of upfront costs and maintenance.
Contact Fluence to learn more about our water reuse technologies and Water Management Services, and how our flexible financing solutions can help you get the water infrastructure you need.
