In most industries, treatment costs far outweigh the actual cost of raw water. Increasingly stringent laws regulating environmental impacts of industrial discharge have motivated industries to minimize the amount of effluent that actually leaves the plant. Zero discharge means that discharge to the wastewater treatment stream is eliminated. All wastewater, after treatment, is converted to a solid waste by concentration and evaporation, or is reused onsite. As new plants are built, they are more likely than ever before to incorporate internal recycling technology as a means of avoiding the high cost of environmental compliance and retrofitting later on.
Regulatory incentives can be a two-sided coin.
Although minimizing effluent discharge is often an advantage, reducing the volume of wastewater that is discharged will concentrate the levels of contaminants in the effluent. This article discusses how industries in Texas are meeting these challenges, and how government and industry are working together to solve regulatory impediments that limit industrial water conservation in Texas.