JEDDAH: The water reuse market in Saudi Arabia will be worth $3.4 billion between 2009 and 2016 making it the third largest water reuse market in the world after the US and China, according to Christopher Gasson, a water expert.
"A revolution is taking place in the water reuse sector, which dramatically repositions technology as a solution to the global water scarcity crisis," Gasson told a press conference on behalf of Global Water Intelligence, which has published a new report in collaboration with PUB, Singapore's national water agency, on the sidelines of the Saudi Water and Power Forum (SWPF 2009), which entered its second day on Monday.
The report, "Municipal Water Reuse Markets 2010," claims to be the most extensive research published about the market for water reuse to date. Based on a complete investigation of existing water reuse facilities and proposed future projects, it reaches a number of conclusions.
Water reuse currently has little impact on water scarcity. In theory water reuse should be a substitute for water drawn from nature. In practice, because most reclaimed water is provided for irrigation purposes at very low cost, it is seen as an additional source of water - the water you can afford to waste. Currently water reuse has little overall impact on water scarcity, the report argues.
"We will drink more reclaimed water - indirectly," says the report. The future of water reuse is in higher value urban applications such as industrial process water and augmenting utility water supply, either through blending in reservoirs or injecting into the aquifer. Landmark projects such as the Orange County Groundwater Replenishment Scheme in California, the Western Corridor Recycled Water Project in Queensland, and Singapore's NEWater program are examples of the new generation of high value urban water reuse projects. These projects have benefited from new technologies in ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet disinfection, which offer an absolute guarantee of the safety of reclaimed water. They produce high value water no one can afford to waste.
Water reuse will grow more quickly than desalination in percentage terms: Currently the installed capacity of water reuse plants which meet generally accepted public health standards is around 28 million m3/d (7.4 billion gallons a day). This compares to around 41 million m3/d of seawater desalination capacity. By 2016, the water reuse capacity is expected to grow by 180 percent to 79 million m3/d (21 billion gallons per day), whereas seawater desalination capacity is expected to grow by 120 percent to 89 million m3/d.
Gasson, said: "Global warming gets all the headlines, but water scarcity is reaching crisis point in many parts of the world right now. Water reuse has the potential to make a huge difference to the situation in cities, but so far its impact has been disappointing. Most reclaimed water is probably wasted."
Three things have come together to change that. First, the technologies that will deliver the highest grade water for reuse - ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis and ultraviolet disinfection - have become cheaper and more effective. Secondly, the public is becoming more environmentally concerned. Recycling water seems as natural as any other recycling. It is also greener than big dams, diverted rivers, and desalination. Thirdly, the economics are there. Many cities are running out of options, and they are realizing that high-grade urban water reuse is much cheaper than the alternatives.
Over the past decade governments around the world have preferred to back desalination ahead of water reuse. It is easy to see why: most water reuse projects produce low-grade water with limited applications rather than the highly treated water cities need. Programs like Singapore's NEWater scheme change the game. They have demonstrated that water reuse can be an essential part of sustainable cities.