Water And Wastewater Roadmap Calls For Rethinking Energy Use

Washington, D.C. — The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy (ACEEE) recently released a roadmap report on improving energy in the municipal water and wastewater industry. This report documents the results of a roadmap workshop held in July 2004 that brought together 50 leading experts in water, wastewater, and energy, and provides recommendations on steps that can be taken to make the industry more sustainable.

Municipal water supply and wastewater treatment systems are among the most energy-intensive facilities owned and operated by local governments, accounting for about 35 percent of energy used by municipalities. Water and wastewater treatment and distribution in the United States is estimated to consume 50,000 gigawatt-hours, representing 1.4 percent of the total national electricity consumption, and to cost over $4 billion annually. However, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's ENERGY STAR® program, 10 percent savings can readily be achieved in this industry.

"While energy is a major cost for water and wastewater treatment facilities, it frequently is not a priority," said Dr. Neal Elliott, ACEEE's Industrial Program Director, and organizer of the workshop and author of the report. "Operators of water and wastewater systems are more concerned about compliance with drinking water safety and environmental regulations, reliability of operation to avoid fines and interruption of service, capacity to meet growing demand and/or changing treatment requirements, and costs of construction or expansion of facilities and operation of the overall system.

"Reliable and cost-effective energy supply is an element in all these priorities; however, it is not by itself a focus. On the other hand, with the need to supply more water of a higher quality and treat wastewater to higher standards to meet future needs, energy use by water and wastewater utilities is likely to increase," added Elliott.

The report names key stakeholders involved in energy/water decisions, distinguishes key areas of opportunity, and suggests specific action items. It also identifies four key areas for further action to advance energy efficiency in the water and wastewater industry:

• Energy efficiency should be included in educational curriculum at the university engineering, tech school, operator training, and continuing education levels.
• Standard data collection protocols need to be established so that comparable performance data can be collected, meaningful databases assembled, and "best practice" guidelines identified.
• Energy efficiency metrics should be incorporated into requirements for NPDES permits and eligibility for state revolving loan funds for water and wastewater infrastructure.
• A means of coordination and information exchange needs to be established to identify and collect information across activities.

ACEEE recommends that the dialog begun at this workshop continue in order to provide coordination, play a clearinghouse role, and—most importantly—identify key opportunities for action that are not being met by established programs.

This workshop and roadmap were made possible with the support and encouragement of an advisory committee of twelve interested agencies and organizations. Among the sponsors were the New York State Energy Research and Development Authority; the California Energy Commission; the Iowa Energy Center; the Water Environment Research Foundation; and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's Climate Protection Partnerships Division.

A downloadable copy of Roadmap to Energy in the Water and Wastewater Industry is available at http://aceee.org/pubs/IE054.htm.

SOURCE: ACEEE: The American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy