Embed Size (px)
Citation preview
Illinois College
Water Resource Management and Sustainability
Analysis of Current Methods
Samuel A. Welbourne
Luce Summer Research Trip
Lake Biwa, Shiga Prefecture, Japan
Doctor Kevin Klein & Professor Mioko Webster
August 22, 2016
1
Water resource management has been defined in a variety of ways when contrasting
organizations such as the United States Department of Agriculture, the World Health
Organization, and the World Wildlife Foundation. For the purposes of this paper, I would like to
suggest optimal water resource management is achieved when the collection, distribution, and
purification of water meets all agricultural, industrial, and societal demands in an economical,
sustainable, and environmentally conscious manner. After these needs are met, negative risks
such as water shortages, pollution, erosion, and overconsumption are drastically reduced. 1
Freshwater makes up only three percent of the total volume of water and only one
percent is accessible, but how much of that one percent is actually safe ? Safe drinking water
must be without excess nutrients, harmful bacteria, or contaminants. According to the United
Nations’ unwater.org, more than 780 million people living today don’t have access to safe water,
while 2.5 billion lack adequate sanitation systems. As a result, 6 to 8 million people die annually
from waterrelated diseases. The problem isn’t always lacking access to water, the problem 2
more often lies in acquiring the suitable level of purification, and certifying the safety of
available water before consumption. For this reason, active and efficient water resource
management is necessary to provide clean, accessible water for current and future generations. In
this paper, I have identified current water management methods as well as their inefficiencies. By
the end of this paper, one will understand the necessity of an accessible and sustainable water
source, basics of water resource management, and the cost of current processes available.
My first goal is to identify an appropriate value of water as a natural resource. The
problem that arises when trying to value a natural resource is its tangibility. Water in particular is
1 "Achieving Efficient Water Management, A Guidebook for Preparing ..." 2004. 26 Aug. 2016 < http://www.usbr.gov/pn/programs/wat/publications/guidemstr.pdf > 2 "UNWater: Statistics." 2014. 22 July. 2016 < http://www.unwater.org/statistics/en/ >
2
difficult to accurately price when areas that receive several inches of rain a year, provide easy
access in comparison to the scarcity of water in Phoenix, Arizona. The United States in particular
has five times more the freshwater per capita than China, and six times more than India. Not 3
surprisingly however, the U.S. does not share the same comparative advantage when it comes to
conservation and efficiency within the water management industry. In comparison to the United
States, Japan has one of the largest GDP’s per capita in relation to water resources per capita in
the world, suggesting that society that pays high regards to their use of water and the efficiency
of their treatment processes will have a significant advantage over a country that exploits their
natural resources. Due to the unequal and borderless distribution of freshwater throughout the 4
world, the supply and demand can be affected by not only weather, but also economies,
government, and population. However, as a basic human need, will it ever be anything but
priceless? According to Steven Solomon, an economic journalist, the demand of freshwater from
our global society is growing twice the rate of our population. He also points out the rise of great
civilizations such as Egypt, Rome, and China were largely due to the effectiveness of their water
management. Each developed technology such as aqueducts, irrigation channels, and trading
canals. Additionally, news sources including National Public Radio, US News, and the Los 5
Angeles Times, have released articles suggesting that political control of water sources will
likely be the cause for the next world conflict. Joshua Hammer, a journalist for Smithsonian
Magazine, has cited evidence that the beginning of conflicts in Syria were due in part to drastic
3 "Facts about Water | Steven Solomon's Water Blog Homepage." 2013. 20 Aug. 2016 < https://thewaterblog.wordpress.com/factsaboutwater/ > 4 "Water problems and Japan's efforts." 2009. 10 Aug. 2016 < http://www.meti.go.jp/english/report/downloadfiles/2008WhitePaper/34.pdf > 5 "When the Well is Dry … | IIP Digital." 2011. 19 July. 2016 < http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/publication/2011/07/20110718110356yeldnahc0.246343.html >
3
decreases in water supply caused by political motivations. One potential cause he noted was
Turkey’s recent dam and hydropower construction that has cut downstream water flow to Syria
by up to 40 percent and Iraq by 80 percent. This water source was originally an important 6
supply for agricultural production, this decrease led to a rural exodus, driving swarms of
unemployed citizens to urban areas. Although the United States has eluded dramatic water
management failures, even as a developed country it is far from perfect. Considering all of these
facts, a reevaluation of worldwide water management policies and practices is essential in
providing a fair and sustainable freshwater source for future generations.
The United States and Japan are two countries vastly different in culture, geography, and
history. It is due to these differences that each has a unique perspective on water management.
Although freshwater is not scarce in either geographic locations, Japan lacks the land area and
the topography necessary to store water as America does. For instance,the Ogallala aquifer
located beneath the central U.S. is 25,000 square miles larger than Japan’s total land area.
Because of these geographical differences, Japan has largely practiced the collection and
manipulation of rainwater for agricultural production of rice and fish throughout history and has
excelled in efficiency. This greater value given to their water supply has allowed them to
effectively micromanage and pay fewer costs to correct mistakes in the long term.
During my trip to Japan, one place that brought me great fascination was Shirakawa.
Nestled in a riverfed valley, surrounded by rain cloaked mountains sat a small village with
beautiful flora and thatchedroof houses. Throughout the town, a network of ditches were
constructed simply, but practically, with the ability to transport water coming from the peaks of
6 "Is a Lack of Water to Blame for the Conflict in Syria ... Smithsonian." 2014. 11 July. 2016 < http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/isalackofwatertoblamefortheconflictinsyria72513729/ >
4
surrounding mountains and irrigate the rice paddies that filled in nearly any free space between
houses. These ditches that consistently flowed with fresh,
cold water also contained rainbow trout that a few locals
had entrapped with chicken wire providing an additional
source of protein. It was here that I began to understand the
foundation of Japanese regard for natural resources and
sustainability. However, this was a very rural, traditional
Japanese village and I assumed that a concern for the
wellbeing of water would subside in more developed areas,
but that was not the case.
After World War II, the advancements in chemical engineering such as pesticides,
herbicides, and fertilizers increased the potential for higher agricultural yields thus reducing the
demand for farmers. At the same time, “wartime companies and much of the technology used
during the war were converted to peaceful economic development.” Companies such as Toyota,
Mazda, and Honda took on massive amounts of debt and boosted production with the desire to
catch up with Detroit’s “Big Three”; Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler. As these companies 7
expanded, demand for jobs was higher and employment was available to everyone, from farmers
to soldiers, causing a massive migration to cities. The Shiga Prefecture, more specifically the
southern basin of Lake Biwa, saw drastic urbanization. Changes were brought not only to the
physical appearance of the lake through the construction of floodwalls and damming but also
chemically with agricultural runoff, and improper disposal of contaminated water. The
7 "Japanese economic takeoff after 1945." 2003. 10 Aug. 2016 < http://www.iun.edu/~hisdcl/h207_2002/jecontakeoff.htm >
5
construction of floodwalls was intended to keep rising water out of the newly populous area but
in doing so, natural wetland habitat that served as important spawning areas for fish native to
Lake Biwa, as well as natural nutrient filtration, was destroyed. Around the 1970’s, mothers were
being diagnosed with eczema and noticed their babies were developing diaper rash. These
mothers took initiative and formed organized consumer groups that identified the cause of
symptoms as synthetic laundry detergents. Each group collectively purchased different
detergents and collaborated to discover which brands were the cause of the problem. This action
allowed consumers to be aware of the dangers and boycott them. At the same time, Lake Biwa
was first observing eutrophication, or algae blooms known as red tide. After further research,
scientists discovered the specimen to be a microscopic plankton that thrived in high levels of
phosphorous. Ironically, the high levels of phosphorous that found their way into the lake came
from fertilizers and synthetic detergents that the consumer groups were on their way to boycott.
Inspired by the action taken by the mothers, additional citizens banded together and stirred action
from the prefectural government to create environmental policy prohibiting the production of
synthetic detergents with phosphorous through peaceful protests. Since then, Japan “has tackled
the problems by establishing efficient watersaving technologies and water management systems,
which include the promotion of recycling industrial water (approximately 80 percent of industrial
water is recovered) and lowering the leakage rate of water for domestic use (the leakage rate is
below 10 percent). Such technologies and knowhow can contribute to the solution of global
water problems.” The process of recycling wastewater is utilized in developed countries with 8
proper sanitation systems, however it is often ignored in developing or third world countries due
8 "Water problems and Japan's efforts." 2009. 10 Aug. 2016 < http://www.meti.go.jp/english/report/downloadfiles/2008WhitePaper/34.pdf >
6
to the scarcity of organized sewage. While considering the costs of water purification and
management I decided to focus on three processes of water purification. Each of these treatment
methods can be more economical or costly than the next depending on the availability of time,
energy, or land area. However, when utilized together on different scales, the total economic
efficiency of a water management system can be maximized.
The first method, wetland filtration, was designed by none other than Mother Nature
herself. Wetlands are areas that are saturated for all or most of the year, and as one of the most
diverse ecosystems in the world (second only to the amazon rainforest), they serve a number of
important environmental functions. These include, but are not limited to; flood water control and
retention, nutrient and sediment filtering, and groundwater reclamation. The Agricultural
Department of Purdue University frequently reports on
the importance of wetlands to the environment stating, “A
one acre wetland, one foot deep, can hold approximately
330,000 gallons of water. By holding water, a wetland
allows sediment and large particles to settle on the
wetland bottom. The root systems of wetland plants then
absorb nutrients from the sediment. Much like
phosphorus, nitrogen, or pesticides.” Natural wetlands 9
have decreased exponentially as urban areas, industries,
and agriculture continue to expand. Artificial wetlands are also becoming more common as a
supplementary treatment to municipal water supply. The two types of constructed wetland
9 "WQ10 Wetlands and Water Quality Purdue Extension." 2009. 3 Aug. 2016 < https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/WQ/WQ10.html >
7
treatment are subsurface flow (SF), and free water surface (FWS). “FWS wetland systems
reliably remove biological oxygen demand (BOD), chemical oxygen demand (COD), and total
suspended solids (TSS).” SF is considered a safer alternative to FWS for areas that would 10
experience higher human activity to avoid contact with contaminated water. Countries with an
abundance of open spaces such as the United States, have proven wetlands to be an economical
substitute to the construction, employment, and overhead costs of traditional treatment plants,
notably in warmer climates. Another increasingly
popular tactic that utilizes wetland filtration is known as
floating wetlands. Floating wetlands are manmade
islands with hardy plant life that can survive disease,
insects, and dry periods. The root systems of these plants
extend downward into the water absorbing the necessary
nutrients for their growth. After they are placed in a
water source, they begin efficiently removing loads of phosphorous and nitrogen as well as
boosting oxygen levels and aquatic populations. A company known as Biohaven has led the
market in producing units that allow people to apply the technology at whichever scale they
desire. When placed inside a 300 gallon tank, one square foot of Biohaven’s technology has
shown a removal rate of “10,600 mg of nitrate per day, 273 mg of ammonium per day, and 428
mg of phosphate per day” Applying this technology would provide options for areas such as the 11
southern basin of Lake Biwa with artificial shoreline to reduce excess nutrients from runoff as
10 "Wastewater Technology Fact Sheet: Free Water Surface Wetlands." 2016. 3 Aug. 2016 < https://www3.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/free_water_surface_wetlands.pdf > 11 "Floating islands as an alternative to constructed wetlands for treatment ..." 2010. 20 Aug. 2016 < https://www.biofilm.montana.edu/node/2526 >
8
well as supplementing the natural habitat for wildlife. The drawbacks that often arise with
wetland filtration are land area availability, capacity restrictions, and seasonal weather patterns
that may have an impact on treatment capacity. The primary benefit of wetland filtration is it’s
natural, low energy purification, with no overhead costs.
The second, and most common wastewater treatment is simultaneous
nitrificationdenitrification, also known as SNdN or Activated Sludge Treatment. It’s popularity
is largely due to both its versatility and effectiveness. Wastewater, especially septic and
agricultural runoff, is teeming with bacteria. After filtering out solid wastes through screening,
the water flows through a series of tanks. The first employs nitrification, a process that involves
agitation with oxygen, allows the nitrogen compounds to break, react, and bond with oxygen.
When the nitrogen bonds with the oxygen, bacteria already present in the water recognizes the
compound as a food source and alters the chemical makeup through digestion. Next, the
population of bacteria begins to diminish in the water as it makes it’s way through a series of
settling pools and screens, losing the nitrogen rich food source. After the water reaches the
proper level of sanitation it is either reintroduced to the municipal water supply or a water
source. In more advanced processing plants, the solid waste or “sludge” that is initially screened
has the opportunity to become a recyclable resource. “The solids are then treated with lime to
raise the pH level to eliminate objectionable odors..the treatment processes sanitize wastewater
solids to control pathogens (diseasecausing organisms, such as certain bacteria, viruses and
parasites) and other organisms capable of transporting disease.” In some cases, the biosolid is 12
incinerated with coal to be repurposed as a source for energy. In the United States, it is more
12 "Frequent Questions about Biosolids | Biosolids | US EPA." 2016. 27 Aug. 2016 < https://www.epa.gov/biosolids/frequentquestionsaboutbiosolids >
9
popularly used for agriculture as a fertilizer but could have potential health risks if EPA
regulations are not strictly followed. In the Shiga Prefecture, the largest wastewater treatment
plant in the city KonanChubu recycles wastewater for over 711,000 people and began
operations in 1982. It currently processes 251,000m³ (about 66 million gallons per day) of
wastewater using approximately 2.00 kWh/cubic meters. This includes the energy use of
pumping the water, as well as utilities needed to run the treatment plant. Although the overall
process is fairly simple and time efficient, the planning, employment, and construction of the
facility takes many more resources in comparison to a wetland. Drawbacks for large scale plants
such as these are their energy and salary costs, as well as the initial cost required for proper
plumbing to transport influent. However, communities that have limited space and access to
cheap energy would find this as an attractive alternative to full scale wetland filtration.
Last, is microfiltration, which is used to purify everything from saltwater to petroleum to
pharmaceuticals. It does this by creating negative pressure (suction) and pulling the influent
through a series of porous pipes. Reverse osmosis (RO) is the most effective form of
microfiltration with pores as small as one micrometer wide. It is commonly employed in the
desalination of seawater, especially in areas such as Saudi Arabia where the energy source of
crude oil is more prevalent than water. The major components of RO process that involve energy
consumption are: ‘feed water intake, pretreatment; high pressure pumps (with and without
energy recovery), membrane type and module, post treatment, and product supply. The total
energy requirement for this process is 6.26 kWh/cubic meter. Microfiltration is most 13
recognizable today as the technology of LifeStraw, a Swiss company that has miniaturized
13 "Energy consumption and recovery in reverse osmosis Academia.edu." 27 Aug. 2016 < http://www.academia.edu/6093006/Energy_consumption_and_recovery_in_reverse_osmosis >
10
microfiltration into a handheld device. Their interesting business model is structured to provide a
child one year of clean water for every unit they sell. By doing so they have distributed their
product and provided clean water to over 369,000 students in both Kenya and India. The 14
benefits of LifeStraw quickly marginalize cost over the course of a year with no need for
electricity. All that is required is access and a few manual pumps of pressure for each use for
clean, filtered water.
Although the functionality of each system is contingent on geographical capability,
elements of each can be combined together to maximize efficiency within a waste management
project. Wastewater can be collected through a municipality to strain out solids, quickly remove
harmful bacteria, and process biofuels for further community development. By employing a
small scale nitrification denitrification process that incorporates wetland and microfiltration in
the overall system, high overhead and employment costs can be reduced while still processing
water to an adequate level of sanitation. From there, the processed influent will flow out to a
natural wetland to remove any excess nutrients while reintroducing the water to a natural
ecosystem. The water could then be reclaimed completely in areas of high precipitation, or
collected again to pump back to the serviced population where small scale microfiltration would
allow individuals to process safe water within their homes.. With sustainability in mind, homes
and businesses would be urged to collect rainwater for uses such as flushing toilets, watering
lawns and gardens, or other outdoor uses. This rainwater could also be utilized for drinking
water, showers, and dishes if treated with a household microfiltration system that would require
much less energy in comparison to a large scale plant and minimal annual maintenance. When
14 "Follow the Liters LifeStraw." 2015. 20 Aug. 2016 < http://lifestraw.com/followtheliters/ >
11
considering the type of water management communities engage in, it is first important to
understand the type of intended water source. After that, considering specific needs within the
municipality is vital for providing maximum efficiency. By following examples of success within
water management systems worldwide, more educated decisions can be made to provide clean,
sustainable water at minimal production, environmental, and consumer cost.
12
Bibliography
"Achieving Efficient Water Management, A Guidebook for Preparing ..." 2004. 26 July. 2016 < http://www.usbr.gov/pn/programs/wat/publications/guidemstr.pdf >
"Energy consumption and recovery in reverse osmosis Academia.edu." 27 Aug. 2016
< http://www.academia.edu/6093006/Energy_consumption_and_recovery_in_reverse_osmosis > "Facts about Water | Steven Solomon's Water Blog Homepage." 2013. 20 Aug. 2016
< https://thewaterblog.wordpress.com/factsaboutwater/ > "Floating islands as an alternative to constructed wetlands for treatment ..." 2010. 20 Aug. 2016
< https://www.biofilm.montana.edu/node/2526 > "Follow the Liters LifeStraw." 2015. 20 Aug. 2016
< http://lifestraw.com/followtheliters/ > "Frequent Questions about Biosolids | Biosolids | US EPA." 2016. 12 Aug. 2016
< https://www.epa.gov/biosolids/frequentquestionsaboutbiosolids > "Is a Lack of Water to Blame for the Conflict in Syria ... Smithsonian." 2014. 11 July. 2016
< http://www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/isalackofwatertoblamefortheconflictinsyria72513729/ >
"Japanese economic takeoff after 1945." 2003. 10 Aug. 2016
< http://www.iun.edu/~hisdcl/h207_2002/jecontakeoff.htm > “Shiga Water Reclamation Data”
< https://docs.google.com/a/mail.ic.edu/spreadsheets/d/1pBgASAd3XL7p9_H9SHXnQnHsllZszZbr8NdsY8qjIc8/edit?usp=sharing >
"UNWater: Statistics." 2014. 22 July. 2016
< http://www.unwater.org/statistics/en/ > "Water problems and Japan's efforts." 2009. 10 Aug. 2016
< http://www.meti.go.jp/english/report/downloadfiles/2008WhitePaper/34.pdf > "Wastewater Technology Fact Sheet: Free Water Surface Wetlands." 2016. 3 Aug. 2016
< https://www3.epa.gov/npdes/pubs/free_water_surface_wetlands.pdf > "When the Well is Dry … | IIP Digital." 2011. 19 July. 2016
< http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/st/english/publication/2011/07/20110718110356yeldnahc0.246343.html >
13
"WQ10 Wetlands and Water Quality Purdue Extension." 2009. 3 Aug. 2016
< https://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/WQ/WQ10.html >
