Watergy at NASEO Conference: Saving Water and Energy in the Water and Wastewater Industry

By: Julia Sendor

Washington, D.C., Feb. 3, 2011 — State energy officials from around the nation and representatives from associations and federal agencies convened in Washington D.C., Jan. 31 - Feb. 3 to attend the 2011 State Energy Policy and Technology Outlook Conference, hosted by the National Association of State Energy Offices (NASEO). Panel topics included federal and state political outlooks on renewable energy, and presentations featured shale gas exploration and financing building energy efficiency.

Watergy: Outlook for Improving Water-Energy Nexus

The conference’s final panel focused on Watergy, an Alliance initiative that explores the nexus between water and energy efficiency. Originally, Watergy was an international program that helped more than 100 municipalities in 16 countries improve the energy efficiency of their water delivery systems while delivering the needed water to their customers.

Alliance Executive Vice-President for Programs and Development Brian Castelli served as the moderator for the panel, during which Alliance Industrial Program Manager R. Bruce Lung discussed the first U.S.-based Watergy initiative, which is taking place in Bucks County, Penn.  Lung stressed some of the growing pressures in the United States to address the water-energy use nexus:

• Energy is often one of the greatest costs for water and wastewater treatment agencies. If power rates rise in the United States, water delivery, treatment and reclamation costs will become progressively higher;
• More stringent water quality standards are anticipated, which will require more energy for treatment;
• Providing water efficiently is becoming a considerable issue for areas of the country that suffer from more persistent drought conditions;
• Water service failures are becoming more frequent due to the aging water distribution infrastructure.

Based on these conditions and the international success of the Watergy program, Lung emphasized that the time is right to bring Watergy to the United States.

Saving and Producing Energy in water treatment facilities

According to Policy Navigation Group President Jonathan Gledhill, water and wastewater treatment authorities have opportunities to save energy, as well as produce energy. Gledhill described how systems in water and wastewater treatment facilities offer energy capture potential. For example, pressure relief valves creating resistance to water flows, and water flowing from elevated water storage reservoirs are potential sources for low-impact hydro power generation. In association with the Alliance, Gledhill’s company is working to help water treatment plant managers and operators learn about participating in energy markets.

Challenge: Risk Aversion

One of the greatest barriers in improving the efficiency of water treatment facilities is the sector’s cultural aversion toward risk.  Water and wastewater plant managers, who face significant pressure to maintain dissolved oxygen levels and effluent quality, often are hesitant to make changes to existing systems  for fear that the new installations may not meet such requirements.

However, this fear is frequently unfounded. At the NASEO conference, Danfoss Director of Water and Wastewater Operations John Masters stressed that currently available technology can save energy without reducing dependability.  For example, by installing variable speed drives (VSD) on certain pumping and aeration systems, water utilities and wastewater treatment plants do not have to operate such equipment at maximum capacity all of the time, thus saving on energy costs. In addition, the soft-start capabilities of VSDs can prevent water and wastewater plants from incurring demand charges every time motor-driven applications are activated.

Opportunities for State Energy Offices

For the conference’s attendees, the Watergy panel provided a compelling overview of the opportunities for state energy offices to invest in energy efficiency for water and wastewater utilities in their respective states. In many cases, utilities will find that energy efficiency measures provide gains that are easily measured and verified, achieve high rates of return on their funding, and can benefit all consumers through lower average water rates.