Objective

This study will provide decision-making tools to support the targeted reuse for applications on military installations of treated wastewater effluent, non-potable water, and rainwater in practical situations to mitigate against high water stress.

Technology Description

Water demands on Army installations will be characterized and installation tasks and real property information analyzed so as to identify water needs that are suitable for reused water. The most up-to-date technical guidelines will be connected to the large amount of information that the Army stores regarding its infrastructure and facilities to discern which of the industrial, irrigation, and facility uses connected to the Army mission may be suitable for reused water; whether that be reclaimed treated wastewater, locally generated grey-water, industrial or wash-rack process water, and/or rainwater. Uses for this water inside the installation will be highlighted, and, where feasible, power generation and other water-intensive industrial uses within the watershed that a given installation is apart of will be identified to facilitate finding prospective partnerships in utilizing water reuse to address basin-level water scarcity. The specific infrastructure required for the implementation of large-scale water reuse efforts will be analyzed and evaluated. Opportunities for water reuse identified in and around installations will be quantitatively and geospatially situated to identify the basic feasibility of constructing new infrastructure to enable water reuse capabilities. The resulting characterization and network analysis could enable a potential future tool to quantitatively highlight opportunities for industrial, power generation-oriented, and wastewater treatment-scale water reuse. This analysis will take in sets of data from the United States Geological Survey, Enterprise data sources such as the Army Energy and Water Reporting System, Meter Data Management System, and Headquarters Installation Information System, and various other federal, state, academic, and non-profit data sources; visualize them; and produce estimates of how much water stress could be alleviated given the implementation of well-accepted and practical water reuse strategies.

This analysis will be geospatial in nature and help conceptualize opportunities for the Department of Defense (DoD) to utilize reused water in DoD activities. The effort will aim to produce insights on potential water reuse applications that are directly and practically helpful to installation and enterprise stakeholders. Estimates of economic impact will be provided according to data availability and thoroughly articulated assumptions, including cost avoidance through the reduced dependence on water resources along with differences in costs due to varying treatment strategies and the energy and greenhouse gas emissions implied therein. Policy environments across relevant states will be included in the assessments of water reuse opportunities to provide the most useful and practical advice for project feasibility.

Benefits

DoD installations are directly threatened by water scarcity. Aquifer subsidence and degradation of water quality as a result of over-withdrawal is already challenging current operations as well as the dependable longevity of multiple installations, particularly in the central and Western U.S. where water is allocated based on prior appropriation and many basins are already substantially over-allocated beyond expected flows. Water and wastewater treatment is energy-intensive, consuming an average of 3 Megawatt-hours per million gallons produced, utilizing more than 6% of national electricity consumption [1], with states such as California utilizing nearly 12% of their energy for water and wastewater [2]. Thermoelectric power production is the largest U.S. water sector for withdrawals, representing more than 41% of national water withdrawal. Last year, California was forced to shut down hydropower production from Lake Oroville for the first time due to worsening drought conditions [3], demonstrating that water scarcity impacts mission-essential power resources as well. Water reuse is widely viewed [4] as one of the main solutions to water scarcity concerns, but many installations do not know where to begin - this project would provide a critical tool for discerning that.

 

References:

[1] C. Copeland and N. T. Carter, “Energy-water nexus: The water sector’s energy use,” Report R43200, Congressional Research Service, 2017.

[2] California Department of Water Resources, “Water energy nexus,” 2021.

[3] D. Kahn, “California hits drought milestone as Oroville hydropower stops for first time,” Politico, 2021.

[4] E. Fernandes and R. C. Marques, “Review of Water Reuse from a Circular Economy Perspective,” Water, vol. 15, 2023.