Joinly Organised with

Session: Meeting Tomorrow’s

Challenges from an

International Perspective

MARCH 29, 2009

Jose C. Porro

Malcolm Pirnie, Inc.

Independent Environmental Engineers, Scientists and Consultants © 2008 Malcolm Pirnie, Inc. All Rights Reserved

1st IWA Young Water Professionals

Workshop at Wasser Berlin

Young Water

Professionals

The Future Global

Water Challenges

from an Environmental

Point of View

Introduction

Climate Change

Water Scarcity

Closing the Water Cycle

Balance between human consumption and ecosystem

Modify behavior instead of environment

Climate Change

Climate Change

▪ Global problem

▪ Unique relationship with the Water Sector

Climate Change impacts Water

- Water Quantity

- Water Quality

- Infrastructure

Water impacts climate change

- Energy

▪ Challenges: meeting demands and increasing

ww treatment while minimizing GHG emissions

Climate Change

IMPACTS?

MitigationAdaptation

Climate Change

Mitigation

▪ Energy efficiency

▪ Renewable Energy (wind, solar)

Climate Change

PlaNYC

▪ NYC’s long term sustainability

plan

▪ Includes goal of 30% reduction in

GHG emissions by 2030

▪ Water and sewer accounts for

substantial % of City’s electricity

use

Credit: Mayor’s Office of Operations Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability

Climate Change

Credit: Mayor’s Office of Operations Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability

2006 New York City

government water

and sewer CO2e emissions

by source (655,000

metric tons).YC

Climate Change

Climate Change

Uncertainty

20 different models presents a

challenge for utility planning

Credit: IPCC (AR4 WG1 Report "The Physical Science Basis"

Chapter 10 page 763 Figure 10.5).

Climate Change

Co

nd

uc

t L

ife

Cy

cle

Co

st-

Ben

efi

t

An

aly

sis

Consider TEES

Performance:

▪ Technical

▪ Economic

▪ Environmental

▪ Social

Sc

en

ari

os

Demand

Forecast

Climate

Population

Rates

Regulation

Economy

Land

Use

Implementation

Plan

Select

Optimum

Resource

Mix

eForecastDevelop

Resource

Mix

Test

Against

ScenariosD

efi

ne

Arr

ay

of

Co

nc

ep

tua

l P

roje

cts

Surface Water

Stormwater

Supply

Options

ASR

Demand Mgmt

Transfers

Desalting

Groundwater

Discharge

Reuse

Climate Regulation

Economy

Wastewater

Production

Forecast

Population

Land

Use

Water

Use

ADAPTATION

APPROACHES

Water Scarcity

Water Scarcity

Water Scarcity

▪ Impact on Water Availability in Western Australia (Inflows to Dams)

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

1000

1911

1913

1915

1917

1919

1921

1923

1925

1927

1929

1931

1933

1935

1937

1939

1941

1943

1945

1947

1949

1951

1953

1955

1957

1959

1961

1963

1965

1967

1969

1971

1973

1975

1977

1979

1981

1983

1985

1987

1989

1991

1993

1995

1997

1999

2001

2003

2005

2007

To

tal A

nn

ual

* In

flo

w t

o P

erth

Dam

s**

(GL

)

Annual Total

1911-1974 av (338 GL)

1975 - 1996 av (177 GL)

1997 -2005 av (114 GL)

Notes: - A year is taken as May to April

- 2007/08 inflow to 20th June 2007

2007

Water Scarcity

Water Scarcity

▪ Berlin - RWH▪ GSW Housing

Settlement in

Lankwitz

▪ Serves 200 tenants

▪ is probably the first

RWH plant world-

wide in which the

first slug of flow

entering the

rainwater reservoir

is mainly polluted

surface run-off

from the street.

Credit: Berlin Senate Department for Urban Development

Water Scarcity

Other RWH cities▪ San Francisco

▪ Seattle

▪ Seoul

▪ Cities of the future

RWH for MDGs

▪ Sustainable system

▪ Low cost

Closing the Water

Cycle

Closing the Water Cycle

▪ Challenges: minimize withdrawal from source waters, minimize

impact on receiving water, meet demands

▪ Solution: Integrated Water Resource Management (IWRM)

▪ IWRM – “Total Water”

• Like “Total Football”

Just like player can change roles/positions in

Total Football, the same Water can fulfill

various roles in IWRM. Dutch goal against Brazil in 1974 FIFA World Cup.

Credit: Wikipedia

Closing the Water Cycle

▪ PUB, Singapore’s National Water Agency

• “Water for All: Conserve, Value, Enjoy”

• Four National Taps:

• local catchment water

• imported water

• NEWater

• Desal

• Many challenges w/in

IWRM

• technology

• Public outreach /

education

Credit: PUB, Singapore

Berlin

WW discharge Drinking water plant

Lake Tegel

~ 70% of drinking water production via bank filtration → partly closed

water cycle

~ 30 % of drinking water derived from WW effluent → Lakes Tegel and

Wannsee

Closing the Water Cycle

Credit: M. Jekel

Balance between human

consumption and ecosystem

Balance between human

consumption and ecosystem

▪ Obvious relationship between consumption and

impacts on ecosystems

▪ Challenge: Meeting increased demands/flows

without negatively impacting ecosystems

• As utilities turn to Desal, brine management will be

critical for receiving water ecosystems

• Significant fresh water withdrawals can impact

freshwater ecosystems

• Increased water consumption, and increased WW

treatment and flows can increase CO2 emissions via

increased energy use - climate change impact on

polar bears, aquatic species, oceans’ acidity, etc.

Balance between human

consumption and ecosystem

▪ Challenge is on Engineers and Scientists to find

balance

Modify behavior instead

of environment

Modify behavior instead

of environment

▪ Modifying behavior is the key to successfully

meeting other challenges

▪ Biggest challenge will be to modify behavior of

the general public

• Conservation

• Bottled water use

• Toilet to tap mentality

• Water not wastewater or used water

• Impacts on environment minimized if behavior

changes with effective outreach

Modify behavior instead

of environment

▪ Modifying behavior of Water Professionals

• Project approach – utilities and consultants

- Historically focus solely on cost, efficiency, and socio-political factors

- Now need to look at environmental impact of projects/alternatives

- Life Cycle Assessments (LCA) look at environmental impact

– Various alternatives/level of treatment can lead to the same overall

environmental impact as doing nothing

– Responsibility on regulators to start considering overall

environmental impact when making decisions on regulations

Modify behavior instead

of environment

▪ Modifying behavior of Water Professionals (cont’d)

• Alter thinking

- Need to implement these ideas in day to day work

- Company wide initiatives required

- Not on overnight process, so it is critical to implement promptly

- use knowledge of water technology to go one step further and apply

that knowledge towards minimizing environmental impact – required

from academia, consultants, utilities

– Years of research dedicated to particular processes/technologies

– Adapt knowledge to better the environment

Concluding Remarks

As James Barnard has eluded, we

must think about our future but

more importantly our kids’ future

Acknowledgements

Independent Environmental Engineers, Scientists and Consultants © 2008 Malcolm Pirnie, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Adrian Puigarnau – IWA

DWA

Ed Means – Malcolm Pirnie

Doug Owen – Malcolm Pirnie

Jennifer Daw – Malcolm Pirnie

Vanessa Speight – Malcolm Pirnie

Michael MacPhee – Malcolm Pirnie

Gary Amy – UNESCO–IHE

Klaus König

Steve Moddemeyer – Collins Woerman

Questions?

Jose C. Porro

Malcolm Pirnie, Inc.

jporro@pirnie.com

Independent Environmental Engineers, Scientists and Consultants © 2008 Malcolm Pirnie, Inc. All Rights Reserved