Table of Contents
- Wwengage
- Wwengage Verification And Scoring
- Wwreuse
- Wwreuse Verification And Scoring
- Wwrecycleindustrial
- Wwrecycleindustrial Verification And Scoring
- Wwrecycledomestic
- Wwrecycledomestic Verification And Scoring
Wwengage
Does your facility engage/collaborate with your off-site wastewater treatment plant to improve their wastewater treatment and/or engage in recycling? (Ref ID: wwengage)
Answer Yes if: Your facility proactively engages/collaborates with your offsite wastewater treatment provider to improve their wastewater treatment and/or increase wastewater recycling.
If you answer Yes to this question, you will be asked the following sub question(s):
- Please describe your engagement/collaboration activity.
Suggested Uploads:
- Documentation that demonstrates how your facility has engaged with the offsite wastewater treatment plant in the Higg FEM reporting year (e.g., lists of activities and with dates of engagement, meeting records, completed audits or surveys etc.)
What is the intent of the question?
The intent of this question is for facilities to demonstrate that they are actively engaging with their offsite wastewater treatment plant to improve treatment and increase wastewater recycling.
Technical Guidance:
Engaging with your offsite wastewater treatment plant is important because your facility often has a direct impact on their operations and working collaboratively with them as well as other relevant stakeholders can create a shared focus and dedicate resources to making improvements.
Examples of engagement can include, but are not limited to:
- Audits or surveys of treatment plant operations with the objective of identifying and providing feedback on opportunities for improvement.
- Regularly scheduled (e.g., annual) collaborative meetings with wastewater treatment provider and other relevant stakeholders to evaluate and plan for improvements (e.g., evaluate the feasibility of new or best available technologies for wastewater treatment and/or recycling, development of improvement plans or road map).
Wwengage Verification And Scoring
How This Will Be Verified:
Full Points:
Documentation Required:
- Documentation that demonstrates how your facility has engaged with the offsite wastewater treatment plant in the Higg FEM reporting year. This may include:
- List of engagement activities and stakeholders with dates of engagement.
- Records of collaborative meetings to evaluate and plan for improvements.
- Completed audits or surveys of offsite treatment plant operations.
- Other relevant documentation of engagement and/or improvements resulting from engagement with the offsite treatment plant.
Interview Questions to Ask:
- Staff responsible for managing/participating in the engagement can explain how and who they engage with on improvements for wastewater treatment and/or recycling.
Inspection - Things to Physically Look For:
- Where applicable, observations onsite are consistent with the reported engagement activities.
Partial Points: N/A
Wwreuse
Does your facility reuse process wastewater as process water? (Ref ID: wwreuse)
Answer Yes if: Your facility reuses process wastewater as process water and tracks the quantity of water reused.
Note: Process wastewater reuse is defined as the act of taking wastewater discharged from one process from which it no longer has beneficial use and using it in other processes without treatment. This does not include water cycled in operations such as cooling towers and non-contact heat exchange operations or water that is reused for domestic uses such as landscape irrigation.
If you answer Yes to this question, you will be asked the following sub question(s):
- How much (in m3) of process wastewater was reused back into your production processes?
- Note: The annual quantity of process water reused in the FEM reporting year should be input here.
- Enter the percentage of process wastewater reused back into your production processes.
-
Note: The annual percentage of process water reused in the FEM reporting year should be input here. This is calculated as follows:
- % of water reused = Total Annual Water Reused (m3) / Total Annual Production Water (m3) x 100%
- If production and domestic water use cannot be separated, the total annual water use should be used.
-
Note: The annual percentage of process water reused in the FEM reporting year should be input here. This is calculated as follows:
- Please briefly describe how the reuse process is conducted within your facility.
- Please upload documentation.
Suggested Uploads:
- Tracking records of the quantity of process water reuse (e.g., meter logs, data tracking worksheets/charts, calculations).
- Water reuse system design drawings or water flow diagrams that show where and how process water is reused.
What is the intent of the question?
The intent of this question is to incentivise the use of innovative technology or solutions to reuse process wastewater to reduce the facility’s water use footprint.
Technical Guidance:
Water reuse is an effective solution to reduce overall water use. This utilizes wastewater from a process as the water source for another process without the need for treatment. The quality of this wastewater and requirements for reuse are key factors that will dictate if and where the process wastewater can be reused.
Facilities should evaluate the process wastewater from all processes to determine if it is suitable for reuse and what will be needed to reuse the wastewater (e.g., retrofits to the water collection and supply network).
Facilities should also establish procedures to track the volume of water reused so this can be monitored and used to demonstrate reductions in the facility’s water use footprint. Direct Measurement (e.g., with meters) is the preferred tracking method, however in some cases the volume of water reused may need to be calculated using an established estimation methodology. Any estimation methodology should be established or evaluated by a qualified individual (e.g., an environmental or process engineer) to ensure that the methodology is as accurate as possible and representative of facility operating conditions.
Wwreuse Verification And Scoring
How This Will Be Verified:
Full Points:
Full points will be awarded for facilities that reuse process wastewater as process water and track the quantity of water reused. Points are not allocated based on the percentage reused.
Documentation Required:
- Tracking records of the quantity of process water reuse (e.g., meter logs, data tracking worksheets/charts, calculations).
- Water reuse system design drawings or water flow diagrams that show where and how process water is reused.
- Documented calculation/estimation methodology if applicable.
Interview Questions to Ask:
- Staff responsible for water/wastewater management can describe how process wastewater is reused as process water, how this is tracked and how the accuracy of the water reuse data is ensured.
Inspection - Things to Physically Look For:
- Observations indicate that the reported process water is being reused as process water (e.g., observe the equipment/water source network facilities in place to facilitate the water reuse).
Wwrecycleindustrial
Does your facility recycle industrial wastewater for production processes? (Ref ID: wwrecycleindustrial)
Answer Yes if: Your facility recycles industrial wastewater for production processes and tracks the quantity of water recycled.
Note: Recycled industrial wastewater is defined as process wastewater that has been treated using physical, chemical, and/or any additional treatment processes to meet a quality which allows the water to be used again in a production process. For example, wastewater that has gone through a membrane filtration process and used back in the industrial operations is considered recycled water. This does not include water cycled in operations such as cooling towers and non-contact heat exchange operations or w
If you select Yes, you will be asked the following sub question(s):
- How much (in m3) of treated industrial wastewater was recycled back into your production processes?
- Note: The annual quantity of recycled industrial wastewater in the FEM reporting year should be input here.
- Enter the percentage of treated industrial wastewater that was recycled back into your production processes.
-
Note: The annual percentage of industrial wastewater recycled in the FEM reporting year should be input here. This is calculated as follows:
- % Recycle Rate = Recycled used / (Recycle used + Wastewater Discharge) x 100%
- If production and domestic water use cannot be separated, the total annual water use should be used.
-
Note: The annual percentage of industrial wastewater recycled in the FEM reporting year should be input here. This is calculated as follows:
- Please briefly describe how the recycling process is conducted within your facility.
- Please upload documentation.
Suggested Uploads:
- Tracking records of the quantity of industrial wastewater recycled (e.g., meter logs, data tracking worksheets/charts, calculations).
- Water recycling system design drawings or water flow diagrams that show where and how industrial wastewater is recycled and used.
What is the intent of the question?
The intent of this question is to incentivise the use of innovative technology or solutions to recycle industrial wastewater back into production processes to reduce the facility’s water use footprint.
Technical Guidance:
Water recycling is an effective solution to reduce overall water use. If industrial wastewater does not meet the quality requirements to be reused in production processes, it can be treated (either chemically or biologically) to meet the required quality specifications and be recycled. The quality of the wastewater, and level of treatment that can be achieved are key factors that will dictate if and where the wastewater can be recycled for use again in the facility.
Facilities should evaluate the quality of industrial wastewater and treatment capabilities to determine if it is suitable to be recycled and used again and what will be needed to reuse the wastewater (e.g., retrofits to the water treatment system or collection and supply network).
Facilities should also establish procedures to track the volume of water recycled so this can be monitored and used to demonstrate reductions in the facility’s water use footprint. Direct Measurement (e.g., with meters) is the preferred tracking method, however in some cases the volume of water recycled may need to be calculated using an established estimation methodology. Any estimation methodology should be established or evaluated by a qualified individual (e.g., an environmental or process engineer) to ensure that the methodology is as accurate as possible and representative of facility operating conditions.
Wwrecycleindustrial Verification And Scoring
How This Will Be Verified:
Full Points:
Full points will be awarded if the facility recycled 50% or more of its industrial wastewater back into production processes in the FEM reporting year.
Documentation Required:
- Tracking records of the quantity of industrial wastewater recycled (e.g., meter logs, data tracking worksheets/charts, calculations).
- Water recycling system design drawings or water flow diagrams that show where and how industrial wastewater is recycled and used in production processes.
- Documented calculation/estimation methodology if applicable.
Interview Questions to Ask:
- Staff responsible for water/wastewater management can describe how industrial wastewater is recycled and used in production processes, how this is tracked and how the accuracy of the water recycling data is ensured.
Inspection - Things to Physically Look For:
- Observations indicate that the reported industrial wastewater is being recycled back into production processes (e.g., observe the equipment/water source network facilities in place to facilitate the water recycling and reuse).
Partial Points:
- Partial points will be awarded if the facility recycled 20% to 49% of its industrial wastewater back into production processes in the FEM reporting year. No points are awarded if less than 20% of industrial wastewater is being recycled.
Wwrecycledomestic
Does your facility recycle domestic wastewater for domestic use (i.e., landscape irrigation, toilets)? (Ref ID: wwrecycledomestic)
Answer Yes if: Your facility recycles domestic wastewater for domestic use and tracks the quantity of water recycled.
Answer Not Applicable if: Your facility is not permitted by law to reuse domestic wastewater as domestic water.
Note: Recycled domestic wastewater is defined as domestic wastewater that has been treated using physical, chemical, and/or any additional treatment processes to meet a quality which allows the water to be used again for domestic uses such as landscape irrigation, toilets.
If you select Yes, you will be asked the following sub question(s):
- How much (in m3) of treated domestic wastewater was recycled back as domestic water?
- Note: The annual quantity of recycled domestic wastewater in the FEM reporting year should be input here.
- Enter the percentage of wastewater treated and recycled back as domestic water
-
Note: The annual percentage of domestic wastewater recycled in the FEM reporting year should be input here. This is calculated as follows:
- % of water recycled = Total Annual Domestic Water Recycled (m3) / Total Annual Domestic Water (m3) x 100%
-
Note: The annual percentage of domestic wastewater recycled in the FEM reporting year should be input here. This is calculated as follows:
- Please briefly describe how the recycling process is conducted within your facility.
- Please upload documentation.
Suggested Uploads:
- Tracking records of the quantity of domestic wastewater recycled (e.g., meter logs, data tracking worksheets/charts, calculations).
- Water recycling system design drawings or water flow diagrams that show where and how domestic wastewater is recycled and used.
What is the intent of the question?
The intent of this question is to incentivise the use of innovative technology or solutions to recycled domestic wastewater for domestic use to reduce the facility’s water use footprint.
Technical Guidance:
Water recycling is an effective solution to reduce overall water use. Domestic wastewater can be treated (either chemically or biologically) to meet the required quality specifications and be recycled to use again for domestic use. The level of treatment that can be achieved and any applicable legal requirements for reuse of domestic water for land applications are key factors that will dictate if and where the wastewater can be recycled for use again.
Facilities should evaluate the quality of domestic wastewater and treatment capabilities to determine if it is suitable to be recycled and used again and what will be needed to reuse the wastewater (e.g., retrofits to the water treatment system or collection and supply network).
Facilities should also establish procedures to track the volume of water recycled so this can be monitored and used to demonstrate reductions in the facility’s water use footprint. Direct Measurement (e.g., with meters) is the preferred tracking method, however in some cases the volume of water recycled may need to be calculated using an established estimation methodology. Any estimation methodology should be established or evaluated by a qualified individual (e.g., an environmental or process engineer) to ensure that the methodology is as accurate as possible and representative of facility operating conditions.
Wwrecycledomestic Verification And Scoring
How This Will Be Verified:
Full Points:
Documentation Required:
- Tracking records of the quantity of domestic wastewater (e.g., meter logs, data tracking worksheets/charts, calculations).
- Water recycling system design drawings or water flow diagrams that show where and how domestic wastewater is recycled and used for domestic purposes.
- Documented calculation/estimation methodology if applicable.
Interview Questions to Ask:
- Staff responsible for water/wastewater management can describe how domestic wastewater is recycled and used for domestic purposes, how this is tracked and how the accuracy of the water recycling data is ensured.
Inspection - Things to Physically Look For:
- Observations indicate that the reported domestic wastewater is being recycled and used again for domestic use (e.g., observe the equipment/water source network facilities in place to facilitate the water recycling and reuse).
Partial Points: N/A