Download - NRTEE: Kirsten Vice
The Value of Current Knowledge – A Case Study of the Forest Products
Industry Water Profile
Canadian Water Summit
June 17, 2010 (Toronto, ON)
Kirsten ViceVice President, NCASI
ncasi
Motivation• Access to water
increasingly controlled• FPI large user of fresh
water• Information gaps for
stakeholders• Water Profiles provide
holistic overview of interconnections between water resources and forest products industry operations
Elements of Water Profile • Forest and Forest Management
• P&P and WP Manufacturing
• Effects of Effluents
on the Ecology of Surface Waters
Canadian Industry Water Profile
Forest and Forest Management• Forest and Forest Management The Challenge: to estimate the
relationship between forest management areas and water resources (precipitation and hydrology) across a vast landscape.
Forest and Forest ManagementTriton Brook (2005)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
180
200
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Month
mm
Runoff
Precipitation
Catamaran Brook (1999)
0
50
100
150
200
250
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Month
mm
Runoff
Precipitation
Hayward Brook (1996)
0
50
100
150
200
250
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Month
mm
Runoff
Precipitation
REVEW (2000)
0
50
100
150
200
250
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Month
mm
Runoff
Precipitation
Experimental Lakes (1975)
0
20
40
60
80
100
120
140
160
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Month
mm
Runoff
Precipitation
Upper Penticton (2000)
0
50
100
150
200
250
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Month
mm
Runoff
Precipitation
Malcolm Knapp Research Forest (2000)
0
50
100
150
200
250
300
350
400
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Month
mm
Runoff
Precipitation
Carnation Creek (1998)
0
100
200
300
400
500
600
700
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Month
mm
Runoff
Precipitation
Stuart-Takla (2000)
0
50
100
150
200
250
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Monthm
m
Runoff
Precipitation
Forest Management ElementsPrecipitation – all water thatenters the system not lost toimmediate evaporation
- Rainfall
Forest Management ElementsPrecipitation – all water thatenters the system not lost toimmediate evaporation.
- Rainfall- Fog interception
Forest Management ElementsPrecipitation – all water thatenters the system not lost toimmediate evaporation.
- Rainfall- Fog interception- Snow (and melt)
Forest Management ElementsPrecipitation – all water thatenters the system not lost toimmediate evaporation.
- Rainfall- Fog interception- Snow (and melt)
Runoff – all water thatleaves the system via surfaceor subsurface flow
Assumes constant water-table
Forest Management ElementsPrecipitation – all water thatenters the system not lost toimmediate evaporation.
- Rainfall- Fog interception- Snow (and melt)
Runoff – all water thatleaves the system via surfaceor subsurface flow.
AET
Annual Evapotranspiration –calculated by subtractingrunoff from total precipitation
AET = Precipitation - Runoff
Forest and Forest ManagementAssumptions: an ecozone-based approach
• Majority (>98%) of forestry occurs in nine ecozones (probably)
• Forested areas are unequally distributed among ecozones (true)
• Forestry operations are equally distributed among forested areas within ecozones (untrue – Boreal Shield has ~50% of forestry operations)
• Mean precipitation levels can be estimated across entire ecozones (??)
Forest and Forest Management
Element Million m3
Precipitation on managed forest areas
1 350 000
Runoff from managed forest areas
670 000
Evapotranspiration 680 000
Manufacturing Element: Concepts
• Water consumption: Portion of water removed from a water source that is not immediately returned to the water source (e.g., evaporative losses)
Water Source
Water Intake (WI)
Manufacturing
Final Effluent (FE)
Water in Final Product(WFP)
Water in Residuals
(WR)
Water in Raw Materials (WRM)
Water in Purchased Chemicals (WCH)
Water Evaporated (WE)
• Water use: Total amount of water used for process and cooling needs
Approach• Pulp & Paper – Perform mass balance calculations
on a mill-by-mill basis• Ideally: Generate independent estimates of water
imports and exports (lack of data).• Pragmatically: Use available data and estimated data to
estimate water withdrawals. This requires the use of an iterative calculation procedure for closing the water balance.
• Wood Products – Undertake typical wood mass balances per wood product sub-category and typical moisture contents• Reasonable: Water use is <1% of that at P&P facilities
Water Profile for Manufacturing (2007)(million m3 per year)
Non-fiberRaw Material
Forests
water in wood
ManufacturingProducts
to surfacewater cycle
to groundwater cycle
evaporation
other waterinputs
recycle
evaporation
water inproducts
disposalwater insolid residuals
groundwatersurfacewater
131.9
2.34
14.834.661,793.9 0 231.5
19.89
1.74
31.8
1,8822.47
Wood products recovered0.84
• 87.5% water inputs are returned to surface water
cycle
• 11.2% water inputs are
evaporated• 1.3% water inputs
are imparted to residuals and
product
• 93.4% water inputs is from surface and
ground water
Water Profile for the Canadian Industry (2007)(million m3 per year)
Non-fiberRaw Material
Forestsprecipitation
evapotranspiration
surface water runoff andgroundwater recharge
water in wood
ManufacturingProducts
to surfacewater cycle
to groundwater cycle
evaporation
other waterinputs
recycle
evaporation
water inproducts
disposalwater insolid residuals
water resource cycle
groundwatersurfacewater
131.9
2.34
14.834.661,793.9 0 231.5
19.89
1.74
31.8
1,882
1,350,000
2.47
670,000
680,000
Wood products recovered0.84
• FPI water use ~ 0.3% of total stream flow produced by
managed forests
The Value of Current Knowledge –Opportunities and Limitations
• Breadth of forestry across Canada necessitates assumptions– Local or regional estimates will always be more
accurate
• Water consumption only roughly 10% of water use for P&P manufacturing– Site-specific calculations optimal– Process-specific knowledge required– Balance can be struck between measurement
devices & engineering estimation