Tag: water shortage

OM in the News: Sustainability Technology Defeats an Old Foe–Drought

Desalination plants in Israel are marked in red
Desalination plants in Israel are marked in red

As California and other western areas of the U.S. grapple with an extreme drought, a revolution has taken place in Israel, reports The New York Times (May 30, 2015). A major national effort to desalinate Mediterranean seawater and to recycle wastewater has provided the desert nation with enough water for all its needs, even during severe droughts. More than 50% of the water for Israeli households, agriculture and industry is now artificially produced. Six years ago, Israelis were told to cut their shower time by 2 minutes. Washing cars with hoses was outlawed and those few wealthy enough to absorb the cost of maintaining a lawn were permitted to water it only at night. “We were in a situation where we were very, very close to someone opening a tap somewhere in the country and no water would come out,” said a Water Authority spokesman.

The turnaround came with a 7-year drought, one of the most severe to hit modern Israel, that began in 2005 and peaked in 2009. The country’s main natural water sources — the Sea of Galilee and the mountain and coastal aquifers — were severely depleted, threatening a potentially irreversible deterioration of the water quality. Desalination emerged as one focus of the government’s efforts, with 5 major plants going into operation or opening soon. Together, they will produce a total of more than 130 billion gallons of potable water a year, with a goal of 200 billion gallons by 2020.

Israel has, in the meantime, become the world leader in recycling and reusing wastewater for agriculture. It treats 86% of its domestic wastewater and recycles it for agricultural use — about 55% of the total water used for agriculture. Spain is second to Israel, recycling 17% of its effluent, while the United States recycles just 1%. Wiser use of water has also helped, and led to a reduction in household consumption of 18%. Water Authority representatives actually went house to house offering to fit free devices on shower heads and taps that inject air into the water stream, saving 1/3 of the water used while still giving the impression of a strong flow.

 Classroom discussion questions:

1. In what other nations is resource sustainability a major issue?

2. What can manufacturing firms do to conserve water?

 

OM in the News: Blue Jeans and Sustainability

jeans“The four-year drought in California is hurting more than just farmers,” reports The Wall Street Journal (April 10, 2015). It is also having a significant impact on the fashion industry and spurring changes in how jeans are made and how they should be laundered. Southern California is estimated to be the world’s largest supplier of so-called premium denim, the $100 to $200-plus-a-pair of designer jeans. Water is a key component in the various steps of the processing and repeated washing with stones, or bleaching and dyeing that create that “distressed” vintage look. Southern California produces 75% of the high-end denim in the U.S. that is sold world-wide. The area employs about 200,000 people, making it the largest U.S. fashion manufacturing hub.

Now that water conservation is a global priority, major denim brands are working to cut water use. Levi, with sales of $5 billion, is using ozone machines to replace the bleach traditionally used to lighten denim. It is also reducing the number of times it washes jeans. The company has saved more than a billion liters of water since 2011 with its Levi’s Water Less campaign. By 2020, the company plans to have 80% of Levi’s brand products made using the Water Less process, up from about 25% currently.

Traditionally, about 34 liters of water are used in the cutting, sewing and finishing process to make a pair of Levi’s signature 501 jeans. Nearly 3,800 liters of water are used throughout the lifetime of a pair of Levi’s 501. A study found cotton cultivation represents 68% of that and consumer washing another 23%. So Levi is promoting the idea that jeans only need washing after 10 wears. (The average American consumer washes after 2 wears.) Levi’s CEO recently urged people to stop washing their jeans, saying he hadn’t washed his one-year-old jeans at the time. “You can air dry and spot clean instead,” he said.

Classroom discussion questions:

1. Why is sustainability a major issue in the fashion industry?
2. What else can manufacturers do to cut water usage and waste?

OM in the News: Water as a Sustainability Issue

One of my favorite features in Fortune magazine is called The Chartist, a graphical analysis of any number of various topics. This week’s issue of Fortune (Oct 17,2011) deals with the vast amount of water used in manufacturing, agriculture, and by us as individuals. It ties in directly to our treatment of sustainability in Supplement 5 in discussing short-term problems and long-term solutions.

With all the bottled water we swig and all the showers we take, one would think people consume most of the earth’s water. In fact, according to the Chartist’s excellent graphs, agriculture accounts for 71% and industry for 16% of global water use. A pair of blue jeans requires 2,906 gallons, most of it from growing cotton. A car requires 104,000 gallons, most of it from rubber. It takes 252 gallons to make a pair of rubber gloves, while a pound of steel uses 31 gallons. And it takes 71 gallons of H2O to produce an 8 oz. cup of Starbucks. (That company, by the way, plans to cut its water use by 25% in the next 4 years with more efficient machines).

Who uses the most water per capita? It’s the US at 2,057 gallons. Australia uses 1,675: Argentina 1,163: Russia 1,340: Sweden 1,033: China 775: and the Congo 400. The world average is 1,003 gallons per capita  per day.

And who pays the most for 100 gallons of tap water?  Copenhagen is highest at $3.03, followed by Paris at $1.48, London at $0.73, Phoenix at $0.59, Tokyo at $0.46, NYC at $0.39, Moscow at $0.24, Shanghai at $0.07, Mumbai at  $0.04, and Buenos Aires at $0.01.

Expanding populations in developing nations will swell the demand for agricultural water some 42% by 2013. The hope is that OM can find new technologies to grow more with less water by then.

Discussion questions:

1. How can OM help solve the water shortage problems being faced in many parts of the world?

2. Will water be the gold of the 21st century?

OM in the News: Recycling Water–“From Toilets to Tap”

I have held off on blogging about USA Today’s cover story (March 3, 2011) for a week because of the yuk factor. Your students will moan you when you bring up the title “From Toilets to Tap”, but sustainability is an important OM topic (which we treat in Chapters 5 and 7). And as the article says: “Water is going to be the oil of the 21st century”.

Clearly something needs to be done. One-eighth of the world (884 million people) still lacks safe drinking water…and its not just in remote/poor regions. Singapore, dependant on Malaysia  for the strategic resource of water, has built recycled wastewater plants that now serve 1/3 of its people. Orange County, CA (which has to import water from the northern part of the state and Colorado), uses treated wastewater to serve 1/5 of its 2.4 million residents. The Northern Virginia suburbs of D.C. use purified sewage for 5% of  the area’s drinking water.

But other parts of the world, from San Diego to Australia, have had to back away from recycling plans amid public outcry. “The gross out factor is a big barrier”, admits a UC prof. Despite the nickname —“toilets to tap”–only about 10% of household wastewater comes from toilets, while the rest is from showers, sinks, and laundry. And the resulting water is often cleaner than what you would buy in a store, as the EPA’s standards are very strict.

Here is briefly how it works: first  microfiltration traps bacteria; then reverse osmosis blocks salt, drugs, and viruses; and finally, ultraviolet light and hydrogen peroxide kill organics. Besides alleviating drinking water shortages, the technology is used  for recycling in factories (see our video on Frito-Lay’s sustainability), for agriculture, and  it means less waste discharged into the ocean.

Discussion questions:

1. Why is recycling water an OM issue?

2. What are the advantages of this method of reclaiming wastewater?