Early in every child’s education, they begin to be taught about the water cycle; the endless and life giving recycling of our water through our ecosystem. In its simplest form, the water cycle consists of a simple loop, with water evaporating into the air, where it forms clouds that rain water back on the Earth, like this illustration from Northern Michigan University Department of Education for use with fourth grade students:
And it is taught worldwide, as exemplified by this illustration from the Royal Water Processing Unit, located on the West Coast of Andhra Pradesh in India, which has been serving the local community with premium quality ground water since 2002:
As our understanding progresses, we may start to see the water cycle as a bit more complex, like this one from the United States Geologic Survey (USGS):
But in our modern, complex, industrialized world, the water cycle actually looks a great deal more like this:
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The water cycle is as much composed of wastewater treatment plants and agriculture and industry as it is about evaporation and rivers and rain. Unfortunately, we don’t tend to look at it that way, especially those of us in the water industry. We tend to be concerned with only our little part of the cycle, whether it’s the production of drinking water, or the treatment of wastewater, or storm water management. But in order for us to be good stewards of those individual parts of the water cycle, we each need to start being more involved in the entire process.
Compartmentalizing the segments of the water cycle has led to a disconnect with how the entire process works, and the impacts that each of the segments has on the others. Pharmaceuticals excreted or rinsed down the drain pass through wastewater treatment plants and have effects on the environment and show up in drinking water many miles away. Surface water treatment plants drawing water from a major river may dump waste products from the treatment process back into that same river, effecting the environment and other drinking water treatment plants downstream. Storm water may wash oil from streets or pesticides from agricultural operations into rivers and streams, effecting the environment as well as drinking water from treatment plants that draw from those surface waters. Each and every process that uses water affects every other user of water. In other words, it affects each and every one of us.
This is not only an important concept for each and every person to come to terms with, but it is especially important for those of us in industries that are directly involved with water in one form or another. Too often, the many different industries and services directly involved in dealing with water have worn blinders, concentrating only on their particular part and not concerning themselves with how it affects the other parts. But this has to change; all members of the water community must begin to work cooperatively to ensure that our water resources remain clean and healthy for the environment and for ourselves. The emphasis there has to be on the word cooperatively. Storm water management, wastewater treatment, and drinking water treatment need to be seen as a whole, and projects developed that address all of these concerns simultaneously. More wastewater treatment effluent needs to be reused and recycled, whether to recharge groundwater aquifers, in use as irrigation water, for environmental purposes, or for direct potable reuse. Storm water should be treated to remove trash and contaminants and then used to recharge groundwater or for environmental purposes. Drinking water must be conserved through projects such as using grey water for home irrigation, retrofitting with more efficient appliances, re-thinking our concept of a nicely landscaped yard, or taking shorter showers. And regulations need to be developed that disburse responsibilities associated with meeting those regulations equally among all parties involved.
This process has actually begun in water related industries already, and it’s critical to the environment and to the sustainability of our water supplies that it continues, but it has a long way to go. Let’s all hope that it goes quickly and smoothly.
