A Water-Smart Future Is Just Around the Block

Many locations around the world are implementing inspirational projects to encourage the wise use of water while enhancing resilience to climate change and ensuring resource efficiency.

Harvesting stormwater runoff

The City of Santa Monica’s Los Amigos Park Storm Water Harvesting and Direct Use Demonstration Project involves capturing stormwater runoff from a storm drain near the park, pre-treating flows with a hydrodynamic separator, storing flows in a subsurface storage system, and treating the water with ultraviolet light before use for indoor flushing and park irrigation, both of which currently use potable water. The project stores around 53,000 gallons of urban runoff and offsets up to 550,000 gallons of potable water per year, ensuring urban runoff can become a resource rather than a waste that carries pollution into Santa Monica Bay.

Decentralized renewable energy systems

Hamburg’s Bottrop sewage treatment plant, which serves a population of 1.34 million and currently self-generates 70–80% of its energy requirement, is aiming to self-generate 100% of the plant’s total demand on-site. This will be met through individual, decentralized renewable energy systems including a wind turbine, four new CHP modules, a solar photovoltaic system, a hydrodynamic screw, a new steam turbine as part of the existing sludge incineration, and a thermo-sludge drying facility.

Blue-Green Infrastructure is not boring

Singapore’s Public Utilities Board has, over the past two years, undertaken improvement work on the 3.2 km-long Bukit Timah First Diversion Canal. This work has included […]

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