An Innovative Water Reuse Model for Bottling Facilities in the Beverage Industry

Increasing water scarcity and growing demands on water resources have created a greater need to improve how water is used in the beverage industry. Water reuse provides a way to increase water use efficiency and conserve water resources, and has the potential to be economically beneficial. However, product quality, operational risks, and human health must be considered in deciding what water can be reused and where it can be applied.With the goal of improving water use efficiency, a model was created to help a beverage company implement water reuse throughout a global network of bottling facilities. The developed model is a spreadsheet based tool that provides a method to incorporate bottling facility waste streams into a water use strategy, with and without varying levels of treatment and/or blending. It provides a standardized approach to decision making that will aid in the cost effective implementation of water use efficiency improvements.