As part of a consortium of Danish water technology companies, Kamstrup will present its solutions for reducing water consumption at the White House on March 22.
On March 22, the Obama Administration will host the White House Water Summit, an innovation summit that will bring together public and private organizations to address the nation’s water resource challenges and discover existing and new technology innovations to solve them. The summit coincides with the UN’s World Water Day and comes on the heels of the administration’s new water innovation strategy announced in Dec. 2015.
Innovations will benefit public water systems
The new water innovation strategy, known informally as a "moonshot for water," is a two-part strategy that includes investing in breakthrough research and development to reduce the costs of new water supply technologies and improving water sustainability through existing technologies. By utilizing existing technologies to implement better water management practices, the US has the potential to unlock water savings up to 33%.
Improved water savings would have significant affects on drought-ridden regions of the U.S., like California and the Western states; however, it is not just California facing water shortage issues. The administration reports that in 2012, droughts affected nearly two-thirds of the continental U.S. Just as California’s snowpack is at critically low levels, many of the nation’s groundwater aquifers are also being withdrawn at unsustainable rates. Without innovation and action, our nation’s water scarcity challenges have the potential to only worsen.
As a part of the new water innovation strategy, the U.S. Interior Department also launched a new Center for Natural Resources Investment. The new center will focus on three objectives to improve water scarcity challenges: increase investments to support water supply resiliency in the Western U.S., rehabilitate aging infrastructure and leverage private-public partnerships to bring more innovation to the water industry. These improvements will have a direct effect on the availability of funding and technology for public water systems.
Reducing water consumption by 33 percent is possible
Kamstrup joins this Water Summit as part of a consortium of Danish water technology companies who will present their solutions in support of the U.S.’s pursuit of private-public partnerships for improved water efficiency. In Denmark, the average non-revenue water for water systems is 8%, and many utilities reach levels as low as 4 to 5%. Also a best practice in Denmark is water systems generating more energy from cleaning wastewater than they use on cleaning and distributing water.
As a part of the presentation that will be delivered to President Obama and more than 200 others, Kamstrup includes a model of a water distribution system—built with 20,000 Lego bricks—that will support the demonstration of Danish smart water innovations. The Lego model water system is complete with a groundwater supply source, wastewater treatment plants, a 5-ft-tall skyscraper and a hovering helicopter.
“The U.S.’s goal to reduce water consumption by 33% or more is certainly feasible with known technology,” said Jesper Kjelds, senior vice president with Kamstrup. “With intelligent water networks, it is possible to reduce water wastage in the network, optimize resources and enable consumers and businesses to reduce energy and water consumption without sacrificing comfort or economic growth.”
Source: Kamstrup
