Water reclamation and reuse in Spain and elsewhere

Water reuse – status and contribution to EU initiative9 February 2016 – Side meeting

Castell – Platja d’Aro, a reference case for water reclamation and reuse

www.eip-water.eu/RTWQM

http://www.eip-water.eu/RTWQM

Water reuse – status and contribution to the EU initiative

Presentation outline

RTWQM Action Group Objectives Consorci Costa Brava (CCB) and water reuse in CCB R3water project and water reuse in R3water Castell – Platja d’Aro Case Study R3water innovative technologies in Castell – Platja d’Aro Regulatory aspects on Monitoring strategies

Environmental, planning and socio-economic aspects from the experience

Urban Water Cycle in the context of the Circular Economy


RTWQM Action Group Objectives

Objective: to foster solutions to water challenges based on online water quality monitoring technologies and affordable monitoring strategies

Water sectors: water bodies, drinking water and waste water, including water reclamation and reuse

Applications: Resource efficiency, in terms of chemical dosing and energy, in water

treatment processes for both water supply and waste water; Early warning systems to detect pollution of surface water, ground

water catchments and drinking water resources; Control networks to monitor industrial and urban waste water

discharges and water reuse schemes.


Consorci Costa Brava Water utility (1971) providing water

services to 27 municipalities in the coastal strip of Girona’s province

Resident population: 250,000 inhabitants; estimated peak population in summer > 1 million inhabitants

Wholesale drinking water supply to 23 municipalities (17.7 million m3/y in 2015)

Biological wastewater treatment in 18 WWTP serving 31 municipalities (28.2 million m3/y in 2015)


Water Reuse in CCB

Reclaimed water production and supply for non-potable uses (3.3 million m3/y in 2015; max 6.4 million m3/y in 2010)


R3water Project

www.r3water.eu/

This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement No 619093.

http://www.r3water.eu/

http://www.r3water.eu/


R3water Project

Demonstration of innovative solutions for Reuse of water, Recovery of valuables and Resource efficiency in urban wastewater treatment:• To support the transition from an urban wastewater treatment plant

to a production unit of different valuables by demonstrating new solutions to address main challenges;

• To facilitate the market uptake of these innovative solutions.

What is R3water ?


Water Reuse in R3water

Innovative technologies:• DOSCONTROL (TEQMA): Advanced control for combined (UV+Cl) water

disinfection• AQUABIO (ADASA): Online monitoring of E.coli and total coliforms in water• AQUATRACK (AQUA-Q): Early warning system for pathogens in water

coupled with sampler

Demonstration sites:• Hammarby Sjostadsverk: IVL’s pilot plant (Stockholm – Sweden)• Castell – Platja d’Aro WWTP (Costa Brava – Spain)

R3Water workshop “From Innovation to Market: The Second Valley of Death” (11th February 2016 in Leeuwarden, NL)http://r3water.eu/r3water-workshop-from-innovation-to-market-the-second-valley-of-death-11th-february-2016-in-leeuwarden-nl/

http://r3water.eu/r3water-workshop-from-innovation-to-market-the-second-valley-of-death-11th-february-2016-in-leeuwarden-nl/




Castell – Platja d’Aro Case Study

WWTP• Municipalities of Castell-Platja d’Aro, Platja d’Aro, Sant Feliu de Guixols and Santa

Cristina d’Aro

• Average capacity of 35.000 m3/day, and 175.000 p.e., high seasonality

• Primary treatment, secondary treatment with conventional activated sludge and a tertiary treatment for golf course and agricultural irrigation

Water Reclamation• Water Reclamation Plant (WRP) is

designed for a 15.000 m3/day flow• Gravity sand filtration + combined

disinfection (UV + Sodium hypochlorite)





Main reclaimed water users: 2 golf courses, one pitch & putt facility and two agricultural irrigation communities (corn and orchard products, respectively)

On-demand production, with a buffer storage of 325 m3

• Maximum peak production: 400m3/h, during the summer 2015• The increase in the number of users has increased the demand almost at the

limit of the current production capacity at hourly peak demand period.


Technologies: Water reclamationContinuous control of combined disinfection process in water reclamation• The appropriated combination of chemical + physical

disinfection, generates positive synergies delivering enhanced microbiology load reduction and substantial reduction of operational costs and an increase in the safety of the reclaimed water produced

• The increased disinfection spectrum process ensures a residual concentration of biocide through the distribution network, limiting possible regrowth

Benefits• Efficient safe water production, providing the adjusted

dose of each disinfectant agent allowing fit-for-purpose production of reclaimed water, according to the intended water quality for the reuse (irrigation, environmental and industrial uses)

• Valuable real time information of the disinfection process• Reduction in O&M associated costs


Technologies: Online monitoringContinuous measurement equipment for: Escherichia coli and total coliforms simultaneously.• Used technique: Defined Substrate Technology® (DST®) and detection system by

measuring fluorescence and absorbance. Applicability• E. coli is a bacteria widely used as an indicator of faecal contamination, and also

key indicators for determining the potential uses of reclaimed water from a WWTP tertiary treatment.

Benefits• Early warning in case of the water reclamation plant

malfunctioning.• Efficient production of reclaimed water, avoiding overdosing of

disinfection chemicals and excess of UV power consumption.• Allows the production of fit-for-purpose reclaimed water.


Regulatory aspects: Monitoring strategiesDuring 2014, a market study was conducted in the scope of RTWQM, based on the survey and the experience from more than 70 water experts.

Regarding one question about the discrete sampling, 70% of the answers point out that the current water sampling strategies stipulated in the water directives are not properly representing the real status of the water bodies and treatment processes.

current monitoring regulations defined in the water directives as a barrier for the adoption of innovative monitoring technologies ???


Regulatory aspects: Monitoring in EU water directives

The monitoring requirements defined in the water directives are following a set of common steps:• Specify the minimum sampling frequency• Specify the water quality parameters to be monitored• Specify the physical/chemical/biological analysis method

Monitoring requirement

RTWQM applicability

Comments

Minimum sampling frequency

RTWQM technologies can provide sampling frequencies from minutes to hours, in any case higher than discrete manual sampling.

Quality parameters Not all the required quality parameters can be monitored online.

Analysis method Definitely, the online monitoring methods will often be different from those specified for laboratory.

Thus, the major barriers to online monitoring are:• The specification of compulsory laboratory analysis methods.• Available online monitoring technologies are not taken in consideration when defining the

quality parameters.


Regulatory aspects: Spanish regulation on Water Reuse

National Water Reuse Directive ES: RD 1620/2007• Establish different thresholds for the physicochemical and biological

parameters, according to the intended reuse, and even according to the different irrigated crop types

But it presents some drawbacks that might act as barrier for the development of new water reuse schemes• First, the legal mechanism (Real Decreto) seems ‘written on stone’• The nematode eggs parameter is not relevant for reclaimed water• The nitrate threshold level for aquifer recharge is more stringent than for

drinking water supply itself• High frequency of analysis (i.e., E. coli can be required up to 3 times/week)

required by the regulation causes an increase in the costs of lab analysis but does not effectively protect the quality of reclaimed water


Regulatory aspects: The WSP approachThe early warning function will never be fulfilled by specifying discrete sampling strategies and laboratory analysis methods, and, in the limit, increasing the sampling frequency will not be sustainable in terms of efforts and costs.

The Water Safety Plan (WSP)* is a risk-based approach that identifies which parameters are critical, and accordingly, set up the monitoring strategies to be adopted, including online monitoring.

A potential approach to be explored, providing an effective combination of:• discrete sampling, required for regulatory compliance, and providing

accurate measures for more water quality parameters • and online monitoring, suitable for process control and optimization,

and providing event detection and early warning functionality(*) Water safety plan manual: step-by-step risk management for drinking-water suppliers. WHO. Geneva, 2009


Environmental, planning and socio-economic aspects from the experience

Key messages from 27 years of experience in

water reclamation and reuse in Castell Platja ‘dAro


Environmental aspects• Decrease of the depletion of strategic groundwater resources• Efficiency of fertigation, introducing nutrient recovery and reducing the environmental

impacts of diffuse agriculture pollution• Allows changing dry crops to irrigated crops. In the case of maize, doubles the

atmospheric CO2 uptake

(*) J. Muñoz and L. Sala: Environmental criteria for alternative nutrient removal in treated wastewater. 6th Conference on Wastewater Reclamation and Reuse for Sustainability, October 9-12, 2007, Antwerp, Belgium http://ccbgi.org/docs/antwerp_2007/poster2007.pdf

http://ccbgi.org/docs/antwerp_2007/poster2007.pdf




Economic and planning aspects

• The WWTP Ecosystem: The environmental and economic sustainability of the water reuse scheme is limited by the presence of potential users in the WWTP area

• The use of reclaimed water for irrigation has lower OPEX than extracting groundwaters + purchasing fertilizers

• Better crop response and more valuable crops production, saving fertilization costs

• Funding sources vs. whole urban water cycle approach: the reclaimed water as an alternative local water source to be managed by water supply utilities rather than an isolated service provided by the wastewater facilities


Users and social acceptance aspects

• Opportunity for the generation of new economical activities and job creation in the WWTP Ecosystem

• Continuity of economical activities and municipal services (gardens irrigation, cleaning of facilities) even during severe drought episodes (3 events between 1998 – 2008)

• End-users acceptance: the number of users has been increasing during the years and even farmers located relatively far away are interested in being connected to the water reuse network

• “Reuse of treated waste water”: please avoid to use ‘wastewater’ together with the term ‘reuse’, this will generate reluctance in the users and public and it will hamper the wide adoption of water reuse in EU REUSE OF RECLAIMED WATER


Urban Water Cycle in the context of the Circular Economy

Drinking Water Plant

City

Waste WaterTreatment Plant

Water ReclamationPlantDrinking

water

Wastewater

Treated water

Fertigation uses

Municipal uses

Aquifer recharge

Reclaimed water

Rawwater

Online Monitoring for efficiency

Online Monitoring for early warning

Depletion of strategic water resources

Water body

Public acceptance

Reclaimed water demandfrom users

Overall operational costs

Protection of water bodies

Crop production

Fertilization

CO2 net emissions

Efficient nutrient recovery

Diffuse agriculture pollution

Economical activities and job creation


Acknowledments

• Lluis Sala - http://www.ccbgi.org/

• Uwe Fortkamp - http://www.ivl.se/

• Ernest Mejias - http://www.teqma.com/

• Montserrat Batlle - http://adasaproducts.com/

• Corina Carpentier - http://benten-water.com/

• EIP Water Secretariat

THANKS FOR YOUR ATTENTION

Sergio de Campos

RTWQM Coordinator

[email protected]

http://www.ccbgi.org/

http://www.ccbgi.org/

http://www.ivl.se/

http://www.ivl.se/

http://www.teqma.com/

http://www.teqma.com/

http://adasaproducts.com/

http://adasaproducts.com/

http://benten-water.com/

http://benten-water.com/

mailto:[email protected]