Posted on October 15, 2015

United with the United Nations

by Jann Lau, Market Analyst at Organica Water

With the recent conclusion of the United Nations General Assembly in New York, the sustainable development goals (SDGs) have been officially adopted and will become applicable from January 2016. The SDGs are a new, universal, set of goals, targets and indicators that UN member states will be expected to utilize in framing their agendas and political policies over the next 15 years:

The SDGs follow and expand on the millennium development goals (MDGs), as originally agreed by these same governments in 2001 but due to expire at the end of this year.

To develop these goals, the UN conducted the largest consultation program in its history to gauge opinion on what the SDGs should include. Considering that many of us can barely decide on what to eat or where to go for dinner, this is a massive undertaking to distill the world’s problems down to this brief, yet comprehensive, list. Basically, this is what the world wants.

I was not surprised by any of the issues that ended up on the list. Who wouldn’t want a world with less poverty and hunger? Or a world with greater equality and education opportunities? Certainly I do. These are subjects everyone can rally around.

However, what did surprise me was just how interconnected many of the goals were, particularly in relation to wastewater management. Let’s look at them together one by one:

#6 Clean Water and Sanitation

This one’s an obvious 1-2 punch:

1. Wastewater that is properly collected, treated, and discharged improves sanitation.
2. Wastewater that is adequately treated to certain standards can be a reliable alternative clean water source (potable or otherwise).

Water on Earth moves in a continuous cycle and is used over and over. Water bodies that have wastewater discharged into them are oftentimes water supply for downstream communities. You can’t have the objective of clean potable water supplies without addressing the pollution issues.

#7 Clean Energy

Wastewater treatment facilities with sufficient scale have the potential to generate energy from wastewater biosolids through anaerobic digestion. Through this process, microorganisms break down biodegradable material in the absence of oxygen and produce methane/carbon dioxide used to generate electricity and heat. This is biogas.

With the energy contained in wastewater and biosolids greater than the energy required for treatment, water resource recovery facilities have the potential to be energy neutral or even net energy producers. Additionally, many facilities are adding post-consumer food waste to existing anaerobic digesters at their facilities. Food waste has up to 3x as much energy potential as biosolids.

Currently, almost 10% of WWTPs in the United States use this anaerobic digestion process, generating only 190 MW of capacity. The technical potential on a national scale is estimated at over 400 MW of electricity. You probably don’t think in MW (neither do I), but this translates into replacing power from approximately 77 coal-powered facilities in the United States (based on the average production capacity of facilities with generation capacity between 0-10 MW). This energy can be used on-site for heat or power, or even exported to local utilities, industrial users or power producers.

#9 Innovation and Infrastructure + #11 Sustainable Cities and Communities

Wastewater infrastructure encompasses the network for collection, treatment, and disposal of sewage. This goal calls for resiliency and sustainability.

Bad News:
Conventional urban / suburban wastewater management is neither resilient nor sustainable. Typically, for every $1 spent on the treatment facility, many multiples more (up to 5-10x) are spent on the sewer network. This is because nobody wants to live and work nearby a conventional wastewater treatment facility – they are typically large, smelly, and ugly.

As a result, these facilities have historically been located far from residential areas (i.e. the source of wastewater), due to their unappealing appearance and odor issues – “psychological footprint”. Not only is this crazy expensive, but many miles of pipes means many miles of potential leaks, clogs, and maintenance issues[MK4] [JL5] .

With rapid urbanization, increased density and sprawl, a common issue now facing many wastewater assets is that the buffer distances that existed early in the life of the facilities by virtue of their remote location are now being eroded.

Good News:
It doesn’t have to be like this.

The “sweet spot” for sustainable wastewater management is a “localized” solution that lies in between the two extremes of centralization and decentralization[MK6] , taking into account the OVERALL cost and impacts of wastewater management (not just wastewater treatment).

There is growing awareness that wastewater treatment plants are not simply waste disposal facilities, but rather water resource recovery facilities that produce clean water, recover nutrients (such as phosphorus and nitrogen), with the potential to reduce our dependence on fossil fuels through the production and use of renewable energy.

There’s a proven solution that is being implemented across the world. It is all of the above and more – an educational facility and beacon of sustainability that enables water reuse and allows for maximized development opportunities – particularly in urban areas where footprint and odor are significant concerns.

#12 Responsible Consumption

You cannot have an informed conversation around sustainable consumption and production patterns without discussing water. It is a key resource in a myriad of processes – most notably energy generation and food production.

Agriculture is the biggest user of water. By reusing wastewater, we can not only save water, but fertilizers as well (remember, wastewater contains elements such as nitrogen and phosphorus, which are vital for growing plants). When using potable water, farmers normally have to add these nutrients to the soil or water.

#13 Climate Action

Carbon dioxide emissions can be displaced with clean energy production. And as we previously established, WWTPs are able to produce clean energy. Remember that 400 MWh? Again, I don’t think in MWh, but this equates to roughly 3.4 million tons of CO2/year. I don’t think in terms of CO2 either, but this is equivalent to taking 600,000 vehicles off the road.

Extrapolating this potential to the entire subset of viable facilities in the United States and across the world means that wastewater could offset the greenhouse gas emissions of millions of vehicles.

#14 Life Below Water

Only 20% of global wastewater is currently being treated, leaving low-income countries hardest hit by contaminated water supplies and disease. The effects of improper discharge of wastewater and leakage from wastewater pipelines have been widely documented.

The economic impacts of poor sanitation is significant. For instance in Indonesia, where total urban wastewater being safely collected and treated is only 1%, the World Bank quantified the real economic cost of poor sanitation at around 2.3% of the GDP annually in terms of health and environmental related economic losses!

Here’s a quick rundown of some adverse effects of organic pollution (in this case from wastewater) into receiving water bodies:

• Eutrophication, where excess nutrients stimulate excessive plant growth. This can lead to algal blooms which are not only ugly but also reduces the light available to photosynthetic organisms, reducing the oxygen available for other animals that need it.
• Threats to human health due to elevated numbers of pathogenic microorganisms (e.g. viruses, bacteria) and toxins
• Biological diversity loss.
• Threats to tourism.

#17 Partnerships for the Goals

Water is inherently a local business. Each country is endowed with its own resources and generally sets its own regulations and standards, enforced to varying degrees. But the need and potential for water is universal.

The time for integration is now. There is no greater obstacle for better design and operation in wastewater management than communication between the involved experts (the technical challenges are comparatively “easy”). Put it simply, the industry still thinks too much in silos and this stands in our way when trying to overcome complex challenges.

Wastewater is intricately weaved into the United Nation’s SDGs. In order for the world to sustainably develop and achieve more than half its goals, localized wastewater management needs to come in play.

*If you’re at all curious how the world intends to fund all of this, take a look at this Reuters article which identifies where some of the trillions of dollars will come from.