Latest news with #recycledwater
Free Malaysia Today
3 days ago
- Business
- Free Malaysia Today
M'sia planning specific water tariff for data centres, says Fadillah
Deputy prime minister Fadillah Yusof said the government is encouraging industrial users, including data centres, to switch to recycled water and develop sustainable district cooling systems. (Bernama pic) PETALING JAYA : The government is working with state regulators to introduce a specific water tariff for data centres and heavy industrial users, while encouraging the adoption of recycled water and district cooling systems to reduce the strain on clean water resources. Deputy prime minister Fadillah Yusof said although water falls under state jurisdiction, federal agencies such as the National Water Services Commission are actively coordinating with utility operators to ensure fair and efficient water usage. 'Before any increase in tariffs can even be implemented, utility companies must submit (their proposals) to SPARC and justify the increase,' Bernama reported him as saying today. The energy transition and water transformation minister said the government is encouraging industrial users, including data centres, to switch to recycled water and develop sustainable district cooling systems. 'We want the state to set up zoning so that we can have district cooling systems for all heavy usage of water. 'This way, there will be no competition for clean water for human consumption,' he said. Fadillah said a specific tariff for data centres is being formulated to protect domestic consumers from cross-subsidising large-scale users. He aid the government's long-term strategy is to balance economic growth with resource sustainability by promoting equitable access to water and encouraging industries to adopt more efficient and circular water technologies. 'This ensures our water system is managed effectively while also incentivising responsible usage across all sectors,' he said, adding that the move comes amid rising concerns over the high water usage by data centres and other high-tech infrastructure.
Malay Mail
5 days ago
- Business
- Malay Mail
New water tariff, zoning rules in the works as data centres strain clean supply
KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 6 — The Malaysian government is working with state regulators to introduce a specific water tariff for data centres and heavy industrial users, while encouraging the adoption of recycled water and district cooling systems to reduce the strain on clean water resources. Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Fadillah Yusof said that although water falls under the jurisdiction of individual states, federal agencies such as the National Water Services Commission (SPAN) and a new regulatory entity, Special Purpose Agency for Regulating and Coordinating Water-Related Matters (SPARC), are actively coordinating with utility operators to ensure fair and efficient water usage. 'Before even any increase in tariffs, utility companies must submit to SPARC. From there, it will be related to what the purpose is, the justification for the increase,' he said during a luncheon talk titled 'Driving the Green Energy Transition' here today. Fadillah, who is also the Minister of Energy Transition and Water Transformation, added that the government is encouraging industrial users, including data centres, to switch to recycled water and to develop sustainable district cooling systems. 'We want the state to set up zoning, so that we can have district cooling systems for all the heavy usage of water. This way, there would not be any competition for clean water for human consumption,' he said. The deputy minister said that a specific tariff for data centres is being formulated, and the goal is to protect domestic consumers from cross-subsidising large-scale users. Fadillah emphasised that the government's long-term strategy is to balance economic growth with resource sustainability by promoting equitable access to water and encouraging industries to adopt more efficient and circular water technologies. 'This ensures that our water system is managed effectively while also incentivising responsible usage across all sectors,' he said, adding that the move comes amid rising concerns over the high water usage of data centres and other high-tech infrastructure. — Bernama
CBS News
11-06-2025
- General
- CBS News
Elk Grove's eco-friendly recycled water plan faces major setback amid rising costs
ELK GROVE — A plan to irrigate Elk Grove parks, trees and plants with treated sewage water is in jeopardy. The recycled water was supposed to benefit the city's last large-scale urban development, but city officials now say using recycled water won't work. A new 1,200-acre neighborhood near Bruceville and Kammerer roads in Elk Grove was supposed to be an example of environmental conservation. It is designed to be drought-tolerant by using treated sewage water in parks and landscaping. "It's really an environmental stewardship," said public works director Jeff Werner. "Recycled water preserves the use of surface water and potable water." Many streets are already equipped with dedicated purple pipes to deliver reclaimed water, but now this eco-friendly Harvest Water project is going down the drain. Werner is recommending that the city cancel the recycled water program in this southeast neighborhood. "The estimated cost of the system has jumped nearly $17 million over the past couple of years," he said. "The city and taxpayers in other areas would have to subsidize the cost of the system." Construction on the Harvest Water project is already underway along Franklin Boulevard. Crews are laying more than 40 miles of underground pipes that will deliver recycled water from the regional sewage treatment plant, through Elk Grove, and to farms in southern Sacramento County. Up to two and a half million gallons of recycled water a day were supposed to go to this neighborhood, which will eventually add 17,000 new residents. "If the project isn't affordable, really, this becomes a burden on the taxpayer," Werner said. The Sacramento Area Sewer District says the loss of Elk Grove customers won't jeopardize the project and reclaimed water will still be used in the East Franklin and Laguna Ridge areas. "This was really an initiative that the city was hopeful to implement, but that doesn't always work out," Werner said. The total Harvest Water project is expected to cost nearly $600 million, and construction is scheduled to be completed in 2027.
E&E News
19-05-2025
- General
- E&E News
A new choice in water: Sparkling, flat or recycled
PHOENIX — Recycled water is already plentiful in the arid West: It sprays from sprinklers across golf courses and irrigates landscaping. But now those flows — wastewater scrubbed clean of contaminants — could also come out of the kitchen tap. As cities across the arid West look to increase the water supplies for their growing populations, some are turning to multimillion-dollar projects to turn wastewater into drinking water, with the goal of reusing millions of gallons of water a day. Advertisement Cities including Phoenix and El Paso, Texas, are building 'advanced water purification' plants: industrial facilities that use methods including reverse osmosis and ultraviolet light to turn processed wastewater into potable water that could be used for drinking, cooking and bathing.
Mail & Guardian
11-05-2025
- Health
- Mail & Guardian
SA's loos not flushed with success
Lost opportunity: Researcher Teboho Mofokeng says using drinking water to flush toilets is irrational. Every day, South Africa's coastal cities discharge roughly 300 million litres of For She said that amount of water is enough to provide about 1.5 million to two million people with drinking water every day 'and that is just from us flushing our toilets into the sea. Surely we can rethink what we are doing.' Mofokeng is the co-author of a new The research, commissioned by the Water Research Commission, found that Capetonians were willing to pay up to 10% more on their water bills to use seawater to flush their toilets — as long as it doesn't smell or stain the bowls. Mofokeng said water could also be treated to remove harmful bacteria and reused to flush toilets. But this would require a closed water system. In Cape Town alone, 20% to 30% of the city's drinkable water provided to households is used to flush toilets. As the demand for housing grows, so does the need for water and sanitation. When new housing developments are connected to the water supply network, alternatives such as seawater and recycled water for toilets should be considered, rather than using potable water. For their study, the researchers asked 239 people whether they would be willing to flush with seawater or recycled water — or continue to flush with drinking water but pay more to do so. They were also asked how they felt about toilet wastewater being discharged into the sea. The respondents had mixed findings. 'Overall, 90% of people were willing to move away from using drinking water for toilet flushing, but only if the new water source did not stain the toilet bowl, was clear and had no smell.' Nearly 60% of the respondents preferred using seawater to recycled water to flush toilets. But there were differences in preference according to income, gender and household size. About 45% of the people interviewed earned more than R12 800 a month and they preferred to use potable water to flush toilets. But women with a higher education qualification were more likely to pay extra for both seawater and recycled water options. Furthermore, homes in which more than three people lived were more likely to pay for recycled water than seawater. 'My interest was in understanding whether the choices we make around using alternative water sources are embedded from a pro-environmental influence; [in other words] if I use alternative water sources, then it's better for the environment,' said Mofokeng. 'From a research perspective, women tend to make those [environmental] choices more than men and people with a higher level of education also tend to make those kinds of decisions and also older people,' she said. On average, 10% to 15% of Capetonians' municipal bills went towards paying for water. The study looked at the preferences of households that pay R350 to R900 a month for water and found they were willing to pay 5% to 10% more to use alternative water. 'In the way that we set up this experiment and the models that we are using, it allows us to understand what qualities are important for people and under what circumstances would they But the study found that people were not willing to foot the bill for treating wastewater that would be discharged into the sea. They were also in favour of the city treating wastewater, but only if it reduced their water bill by up to 7%. Mofokeng said flushing toilets with seawater has its downsides. 'It would need a duplicate network to be set up, with one network of water pipes for the drinking water supply and another for the toilet flushing water supply. This would mean that both new and ageing water systems would be set up or replaced by systems with a duplicate pipe network. 'Usually water supply networks use concrete, steel or plastic pipes. But because seawater corrodes, plastic pipes will be needed for the seawater flushing pipe network. Plastic manufacturing and the raw materials needed have a significant impact on the environment,' Mofokeng explained. But steel or concrete pipes would need to be replaced more frequently than plastic pipes. Storage facilities, such as reservoirs, would also need to be built and a new system set up to treat seawater before it is piped to people's homes. The chemicals and electricity required to clean the water, supply water to consumers and eventually dispose of the wastewater would bump up the costs. And because the country's electricity is predominantly produced through burning coal, using up more energy in a duplicate water system would increase global warming significantly. This means a renewable energy system would need to be set up. Mofokeng added that climate change will result in a drier south-western Africa. Unpredictable rainfall and frequent droughts will mean less freshwater available for people to drink. She said it was crucial that coastal cities such as Cape Town, whose populations are growing, invest in water supplies from 'unconventional' sources. She said people have to become more aware that not all household activities need to use potable water. 'Increasing public awareness and education about the benefits of using alternative water can help people to accept that they won't be able to flush their toilets with clean, drinkable water for much longer.' The need to recycle water is a 'no-brainer' around the world but the problem is public perception and public acceptance of it, Mofokeng added. She pointed out that Windhoek, the capital of Namibia, has been producing purified drinking water from its wastewater for more than 50 years, while Singapore recycles its wastewater, turning it into safe, clean potable water. 'Until we start building new developments that have two-pipe systems, where the one is dedicated just for flushing toilets [using recycled or seawater], once people have that level of experience, then maybe it will become the new normal.'
