Osprey Water Management News: 13th November 2006
Water Conservation & Re-Use (Water & Waste Treatment)
In a world where water is becoming an increasingly sought after and expensive commodity, why isn't sufficient thought being put into recycling in order to conserve supplies?
Jon Jinks, managing director of Shropshire-based Osprey Water Management, is calling on all connected to the water industry to adopt long-term strategies and look to implement grey water harvesting techniques now.
I am a fervent advocate of recycling water and grey/rain water harvesting techniques which hold the key to conserving mains water supplies. Given the water shortages in the south east and the escalating unit costs of this commodity, it is surprising that adopting water conservation policies are not very high up on the government's agenda.
The only way that this problem can be sensibly tackled is through a combination of government legislation and an education programme designed to make people more aware of the issues.
However, the Environmental Agency is a largely ineffective organisation with a fragmented approach to water conservation. Until the right hand knows what the left hand is doing it will remain so.
Up until now water - as a commodity - has been cheap and freely available throughout the UK. However, in the years ahead, this is set to change with restrictions likely to be placed on water usage unless a cohesive strategy for its conservation can be implemented.
It has become very apparent over the past two to three years that the supply of water for both domestic and commercial applications is becoming increasingly a major concern, particularly in the South East which earlier in the year faced the potential prospect - for the first time since 1976 - of householders having to obtain water from stand pipes in the streets had the dry weather continued.
Annual rainfall varies enormously across the UK from around 5,000 mm (200 inches) in parts of the western highlands of Scotland to about 500mm (20 inches) in parts of East Anglia and the Thames Estuary. According to the Met Office, the south-eastern parts of the country have low rainfall because they are further away from the normal track of rain-bearing depressions. In the case of the Midlands, north-east England and eastern Scotland, rainfall is low because the westerly winds have already dropped much of their water over the mountains in the west.
The way forward
The sensible way forward is a practice known as grey water harvesting, which is extensively used in the United States and in Africa. If the UK widely implemented such a policy, there would not be a water shortage in the South east. Simple measures such as harvesting rainwater dripping from roofs into butts, through to catching drain water from sports arenas for recycling would make a significant difference. However, initially, there would need to be an investment in treatment equipment and winter storage facilities.
As a responsible company, we specify and install systems that should be able to accommodate working practices in 10-15 years time, which will almost certainly need to accommodate incorporate grey/rain water harvesting techniques.
Not too far into the future, it will be impractical for the end-user to purchase mains water from the local water board for application of turf irrigation, or other public areas of irrigation such as golf courses and leisure parks. Such a stance will be due to policy decisions made by the Environmental Agency and the Government of the day looking to ensure that drinking water needs to be available 'on-tap.'
It is clear that only a small percentage of companies/end-users are now discussing where water will be sourced from around 2010 onwards. The vast majority are either unaware, or choose to ignore for the time being the potential problem that water scarcity will bring without effective collective measures in place.
Both an irrigation and drainage system should be designed in order to facilitate a major reduction in the need to draw water from the mains supply. Whether this happens may depend on the involvement of irrigation and drainage experts at the design stage, rather than them being merely commissioned to undertake a project as per the blue-print.
Outlet pipes for the drainage system need to be sited at a common point - for example a reservoir - from which water can be abstracted at a later date. To allow water to just slip away into a stream or river is potentially a huge waste of money.
A feasibility study should be undertaken before putting any plans in place for a drainage or water recycling system. The proposed system needs to be compatible with current water harvesting technology, otherwise potentially large sums of money will need to be spent should the drainage system need to be revamped, or significantly extended in future years to cope with water recycling requirements.
All water consumers from high value industrial users through to private gardens should be looking at ways to save money on their water bills.
Water conservation polices vary from council to council and one of the most forward thinking is Birmingham City Council, which takes a pro-active approach to water management. Such a stance is clearly a sensible policy as the actions of councils tend to be examined under the public microscope far more than that of private clients.
An example of this policy can be seen with regard to many of the municipal golf courses that it is responsible for. We have recently been commissioned to replace fixed speed water pumping stations at numerous courses and install state-of-the-art variable speed pumping stations. These deliver water as and when required, saving considerable amounts of both water and electricity in the process - energy savings over a three year period usually cover the cost of the equipment!
The water needs of a medium-sized private members golf club during the key summer months, when watering - particularly through a long dry spell - is so important. Typically, between 70 and 150 cubic metres of water will be used each night of the week at a cost of £100 per day upwards. If this level of usage is required over two and a half month period the bill is going to run into thousands of pounds.
If, however, an efficient drainage and recycling system is in place for harvesting the water - rather than letting it disappear, the club should start to see a payback on the initial capital investment within two to three years - probably recouping the cost in that time.
When St. Mellons Golf Club in Cardiff was looking to significantly reduce its annual water bill, it commissioned the installation of a washdown recycle unit specified by Osprey.
The total cost of the project is likely to be recouped over the next eight years through the ongoing recycling of water during the daily washdown of golf machinery and vehicles.
As a course St. Mellons is unique - it straddles the counties of Gwent and South Glamorgan, but, because the clubhouse is in Gwent, it is to that Union that the Club belongs.
A beautiful parkland course - laid out in the shape of a clover leaf - it is reckoned to be one of the best tests of golf in South Wales. Opened in 1936, some of the world's finest golfers have played the course including Sandy Lyle, Brian Barnes, Sam Torrance and Antonio Garrido.
The club was taken over by the members in 1964 to become St. Mellons Golf Club 1964 Ltd.
In keeping with a club of its standing, it offers first class facilities. David Fowler, a former St. Mellons club captain and a member of the greens' committee, acted as project manager on the provision of a new water recycling system.
David started looking at a washdown facility over 12 months ago, due to a problem with their interceptor, which didn't comply with current Environmental Agency regulations.
St. Mellons assessed three different systems, including the MiTM 20R washdown recyle unit recommended by ourselves and made of stainless steel and equipped with an ozone unit.
We worked closely with St. Mellons and the manufacturer in drawing up plans for the recycling area and our joint recommendations were put to the club committee, which subsequently sanctioned the funding for the project.
As part of the facility, the club commissioned a new washdown storage facility and concrete washdown pad which was installed by an outside contractor and, over the course of the next few months they will be looking to add a chemical store over the top of the shed to house hazardous chemicals.
St. Mellons opted for the MiTM equipment because it outstripped any other kit available. It has a large holding capacity of 1,700 litres and is the only machine in the marketplace to which an ozone generator unit can be fitted. The ozone unit actually kills all known pathogens harmful to man including: e-coli, legionnaires and viles diseases.
This means that the Mighty M is not just effective at recycling and cleaning water, but is able to clear any of the above pathogens. Machinery such as golf buggies, course equipment, mowers, tractors and aeration machines are driven or placed on the washdown pad and hose reels from the MiTM unit washdown the machinery with recycled water.
The used water drops into the catchment drain, where it is channeled into a sump area. Here the contaminated water is transferred via a special submersible pump back into the Mighty M to go through the biological treatment process.
The work needed to be done in order to comply with the groundwater regulations that the Environmental Agency are starting to enforce in order to comply with an Act introduced in 1999 to stop the contamination of groundwater with hydrocarbons.
An example of recycling paying dividends in another sector can be found at The Country Garden Plant Centre in Hadnall. As the business has expanded, so to has the Centre's water usage, with an annual water bill close to £4,000 - a not inconsiderable sum. However, this has been brought down to under £1,000 a year thanks to the introduction of a closed loop water system running in parallel with a 'bore-hole' top up.
The Centre is very lucky to have its natural 'holding water' pond and this has enabled the whole installation to be undertaken for less than £10,000. This means that in terms of resulting water economies the whole project will have paid for itself within three years.
We installed a very effective drainage system spanning across the whole site, which discharges back into the holding pond. A treatment pump oxygenates the water within the pond keeping it clean. Any excess water used within the Centre goes back into the drainage system and is recycled. Any 'top-up' water comes from the bore hole not the mains water supply.
Preparation during the planning stage is key on any project. Anyone building a new sports or landscaped commercial facility should consider the whole aspect of water harvesting, rather than having to retrofit at a later stage which could prove costly. It is also important to anticipate any increase in demands for a particular application and build this in to the design.
Over the next few years we will increasingly become aware of grey water and rain water harvesting techniques, but it is likely that moving towards such practices will unfortunately be a fairly slow process, unless the government intervenes.