Emerging Market for the Great Lakes - Fresh Water Technologies

A new report by Global Water Intelligence (GWI) magazine recently issued (July 24) a report highlighting the top ten new water technologies. These technologies address some of the greatest challenges facing the water sector today. These include: Water scarcity: The world's freshwater resources are fixed, but both population and per capita consumption of water is growing. By 2025 one in three people around the world will experience either water scarcity or water stress;

Energy consumption: In some parts of the world the process of treating and moving water represents 20% of total energy consumption; Salt intrusion: Over-exploitation of our natural water resources has resulted in a build up of salt in our water systems; and,

Materials recycling: Wastewater contains materials that may be valuable if recycled, but are damaging to the environment if they are not. GWI's report has reviewed 50 existing and emerging technologies, of which the top ten are:

Aquaporins: These are membranes that replicate the way nature removes salt from water, for example in the kidneys or in mangroves. Companies developing this technology include Aquaporin, and Danfoss AquaZ.

Bio-polymers from wastewater: Bio-polymers are a great natural alternative to petro-chemical-based plastics; what is more they can be made during the biological digestion of sewage sludge. AnoxKaldnes is the leading commercial developer of this technology.

Nano-engineered membranes: Despite improvements, reverse osmosis membranes still offer disappointingly low flux rates. New developments such as nano-composite membranes and carbon nano-tubes will significantly reduce the energy required in desalination. Two firms from the University of California, NanoH2O and Porifera, are at the cutting edge of this technology.

Biogas recovery: The collection of methane from anaerobic wastewater treatment has been a reality for industrial effluents with a high biological load for some years. The challenge is to make it viable for less concentrated municipal wastewater. Leaders in this market are Paques and Biothane.

Microbial fuel cells: The next step in energy recovery from wastewater is direct electrical power generation through microbial fuel cells. Emefcy of Israel is at the forefront of commercializing this technology.

Vapour transfer irrigation: This involves low cost plastic tubes that allow water vapour through, but not water or solutes. These make it possible to grow trees and food crops using salt-water. DTi of the UK has been developing this technology.

Phosphorus recovery: Phosphorus is essential to the healthy growth of plants and animals, but it is a dwindling resource. The world's supply of phosphorus rock will be exhausted within the next 100 years, unless more is recycled from sewage. A number of companies including Unitika of Japan, DHV of the Netherlands and Ostara of Canada have been working on this technology.

Ultrasonic sludge pre-treatment: If you can break down cellular matter in sewage sludge it is easier to reclaim biogas, water and other materials. Ultrasound is a low-energy means of doing this. Hamburg Harburg University of Technology is leading research in this area.

Forward osmosis: The action of water moving through a semi-permeable membrane from a dilute solution to a concentrated solution has two interesting applications. One gives a low-energy desalination process. The other is the generation of osmotic power. Oasys, a company that has grown out of Yale University is at the forefront of using forward osmosis in desalination.

Decentralized wastewater treatment: Centralized wastewater systems are expensive to build and use a lot of water. Decentralized systems might remove the need for sewers, and make it easier to recycle the water and energy in the waste. The Lettinga Associates Foundation is one of the leading organisations promoting the practical application of decentralized wastewater.

Water is quickly becoming a scarce commodity. New technologies are being developed throughout the world to find ways to improve fresh water delivery fit for consumption. States, like Michigan, which is surrounded by the world's largest supply of fresh water could stand to benefit from this emerging market. Michigan should aggressively work to contact the above-referenced companies and encourage them to re-locate their research, labs and offices, to the Great Lakes State. (Source: PRWeb).

Stewards of the largest supply of fresh water in the world

Yesterday, US House Energy and Commerce Committee Chairman Henry A. Waxman along with Energy and Environment Subcommittee Chairman Edward J. Markey, introduced the Drinking Water System Security Act of 2009 with the support of drinking water utilities and environmental and labor groups. This bill would require EPA to establish risk-based performance standards for community water systems serving more than 3,300 people and certain other public water systems with security risks. In 2006, as part of the Homeland Security Appropriations bill, Congress authorized the Department of Homeland Security to issue chemical facility security regulations that exempted drinking water and wastewater facilities. The Drinking Water System Security Act authorizes EPA to strengthen security at drinking water systems in the United States under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

The legislation would:

Require EPA to assign covered water systems to one of four risk-based tiers, ranging from tier 1, the highest-risk systems, to tier 4, the lowest-risk of the covered water systems. Require covered water systems to identify vulnerabilities and develop site security plans to addresses those vulnerabilities and meet risk-based security standards, which vary by tier. Require all covered water systems with dangerous chemicals in amounts higher than federal thresholds to assess whether they can switch to safer chemicals or processes to reduce the consequences of an act of terrorism. Since the states implement the Safe Drinking Water Act everywhere but Wyoming and Washington, D.C., states have authority to require facilities in the two highest-risk tiers to switch to safer chemicals or processes if technologically and economically feasible, and if doing so will not result in unsafe drinking water. Require that covered water systems include employees in the development of security vulnerability assessments and site security plans and that they receive the training necessary to perform their duties under the plans. Require EPA to develop standards to protect security-related information while encouraging the proper sharing of this information among those with an official need to know. The bill would set criminal penalties for purposeful, unlawful disclosure of this protected information. The legislation has key support from the Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA) and numerous environmental and labor groups also have endorsed the bill, including Clean Water Action, Earthjustice, The Ecology Center of Ann Arbor, MI, Environment America, Environmental Health Fund, Environmental Health Strategy Center of Maine, Greenpeace, United Automobile, Aerospace and Agricultural Implement Workers of America (UAW), New Jersey Work Environment Council, OMB Watch, Physicians for Social Responsibility, Sierra Club, United Steelworkers, and U.S. PIRG.

Although this bill is not directly related to the Great Lakes, there are opportunities for Michigan based universities and community colleges to monitor this bill as it provides grant opportunities to conduct research, workforce training or technical assistance to "covered water systems." As Michigan continues to identify industries to help diversify our economy, we should look to our role as stewards to the largest fresh water source in the world to potentially benefit from this legislation.