Questions & Answers
What is the meaning of water treatment ‘as a step towards more sustainable sourcing of water’?
- Water management
- water policies
- water treatment
Background
ESRS E3 paragraph 12 states: ‘The undertaking shall indicate whether and how its policies address the following matters where material:
(a) water management including: …
ii. water treatment as a step towards more sustainable sourcing of water; …’
In Annex II Acronyms and Glossary of Terms wastewater is defined as ‘Water which is of no further immediate value to the purpose for which it was used or in the pursuit of which it was produced because of its quality, quantity, or time of occurrence. Wastewater from one user can be a potential supply to a user elsewhere …’.
US EPA Guidelines for Water Reuse reads: ‘Direct potable reuse (DPR): The introduction of reclaimed water (with or without retention in an engineered storage buffer) directly into a drinking water treatment plant, either collocated or remote from the advanced wastewater treatment system. Indirect potable reuse (IPR): Augmentation of a drinking water source (surface or groundwater) with reclaimed water followed by an environmental buffer that precedes drinking water treatment. Nonpotable reuse: All water reuse applications that do not involve potable reuse. Potable reuse: Planned augmentation of a drinking water supply with reclaimed water … Water reuse: The use of treated municipal wastewater (reclaimed water) … Reclaimed water: Municipal wastewater that has been treated to meet specific water quality criteria with the intent of being used for a range of purposes. The term recycled water is synonymous with reclaimed water. Water reclamation: The act of treating municipal wastewater to make it acceptable for reuse.’
Regulation 2020/741/EU on minimum requirements for water reuse, paragraph (2), reads: ‘The Union’s ability to respond to the increasing pressures on water resources could be improved by wider reuse of treated waste water, limiting extraction from surface water bodies and groundwater bodies, reducing the impact of discharge of treated waste water into water bodies, and promoting water savings through multiple uses for urban waste water, while ensuring a high level of environmental protection. ’
Paragraph (6) states: ‘In its communication of 2 December 2015 “Closing the loop – An EU action plan for the Circular Economy”, the Commission committed to taking a series of actions to promote the reuse of treated waste water, including the development of a legislative proposal on minimum requirements for water reuse.’
Paragraph (9) states: ‘Reuse of properly treated waste water, for example from urban waste water treatment plants, is considered to have a lower environmental impact than other alternative water supply methods, such as water transfers or desalination.’
The definition in Article 3 of ‘reclaimed water’ reads as follows: ‘(4) “reclaimed water” means urban waste water that has been treated in compliance with the requirements set out in Directive 91/271/EEC and which results from further treatment in a reclamation facility in accordance with Section 2 of Annex I to this Regulation …’.
Directive 91/271/EEC on urban waste water treatment, Article 2, reads: ‘For the purpose of this Directive:
7. “primary treatment” means treatment of urban waste water by a physical and/or chemical process involving settlement of suspended solids, or other processes in which the BOD5 of the incoming waste water is reduced by at least 20 % before discharge and the total suspended solids of the incoming waste water are reduced by at least 50 %;
8. “secondary treatment” means treatment of urban waste water by a process generally involving biological treatment with a secondary settlement or other process in which the requirements established in Table 1 of Annex I are respected;
9. “appropriate treatment” means treatment of urban waste water by any process and/or disposal system which after discharge allows the receiving waters to meet the relevant quality objectives and the relevant provisions of this and other Community Directives …’.
The Circular Economy Action Plan 2020 states: ‘The new Water Reuse Regulation will encourage circular approaches to water reuse in agriculture. The Commission will facilitate water reuse and efficiency, including in industrial processes.’
In its article ‘Sustainability in Water Supply’, the International Water Association Publishing writes on reclaimed water: ‘Reclaimed water, or water recycled from human use, can also be a sustainable source of water supply. It is an important solution to reduce stress on primary water resources such as surface and groundwater’.
Answer
There is no definition of water treatment or of sustainable sourcing of water in the Annex II Acronyms and Glossary of terms. However, in the definition of wastewater the concept of water reuse is introduced: ‘Wastewater from one user can be a potential supply to a user elsewhere’. Only the use by external users is explicitly mentioned, while the possibility of internal reuse in the undertaking’s own operation may also exist but is not made explicit. Even if not explicit in the ESRS definition, wastewater in most cases will have to undergo treatment before it can be used for a different purpose or reused for the same purpose.
Water treatment encompasses physical, chemical and biological treatments operated on water outputs (or inputs) with the purpose of meeting adequate quality for a certain use, process or destination, such as drinking water quality level, preparation for another use (industrial, agricultural) or the discharge back to the natural environment.
Therefore, ESRS E3 paragraph 12 (a) (ii) should be read under the assumption that policies on water treatment can promote water reuse as a sustainable source of water. In these terms, water treatment can increase the sustainability of water management practices and, more specifically, water sourcing to the extent that it can reduce the need for water withdrawal and therefore the pressure on the water environment. It can also improve the quality of water discharges, increasing the availability of high-quality, safe water for withdrawal and ecological functions. The practice can more broadly be seen as an application of circular economy principles to water management.
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