As the world’s population increases, so does the challenge of providing everyone with access to clean water. Humanity’s global water footprint is becoming an even bigger problem than our carbon footprint, but Aliaxis’ Water Treatment segment aims to make a tangible difference.
The volume of fresh water on the planet is constant, but by 2050 there will be an estimated 9.7 billion people sharing it, while the amount available is subject to contamination and pollution, due to industrialization and irresponsible domestic water consumption. According to the World Health Organisation, the global average is 200 litres per person per day, ranging from 300 litres in developed countries to below 10 litres in some third world countries.
While individuals need to adopt the ‘reduce, recycle and reuse’ mentality, companies, industries and governments are realising that they need to make large-scale reductions in their water consumption. Many industries, such as food and beverage, refineries, the power industry are working very hard to reduce their water footprint. Governments are putting new laws in place, like ‘zero liquid discharge’ for certain ‘heavy’ industries. This means that they must reuse all water used within their production processes and are forbidden to discharge any wastewater into nearby rivers or streams.
Thanks to advanced technology, almost all sources of waste water, domestic or industrial, can be converted to drinking water.
This has resulted in major investment in waste water treatment and reuse. Nowadays, thanks to advanced technology, almost all sources of waste water, be it domestic or industrial, can be converted to drinking water. These water treatment advances have resulted in more efficient and cost-effective Seawater desalination technologies and has even made it possible to produce potable water from highly toxic, acid mine drainage, with the added benefit of Zero liquid waste. Technically, almost everything is possible; the only limitation is how much governments and companies are willing to invest.
Sustainable treatment and infrastructure solutions
Aliaxis’ dedicated Water Treatment team has consolidated the wide range of products offered by its regional businesses into an integrated range of solutions for water treatment companies that are developing installations for cities and large industries. The total package consists not only of pipes, valves and fittings but also filtration and instrumentation equipment. As well as making sure products meet the regional standards for water treatment, our teams are happy to take part in the decision-making process, sharing their expertise and product knowledge with water treatment contractors, government officials and engineering consultants.
In many older cities, the piping network consists of materials that can be subject to corrosion, such as concrete, metal and steel. This means a great many pipes may need to be repaired or replaced in the immediate future. Aliaxis is developing sustainable solutions with pipes made of PVC or PE, a recyclable and reusable material that is also durable, long-lasting and resistant to corrosion. The other major advantage of Aliaxis pipes, valves and fittings is that they can be installed very quickly and easily, so renovating piping systems no longer leads to city streets remaining dug up for months.
Up to 30% of all piped water is lost through leakages. ‘Smart cities’ install new equipment to measure how much water is being produced, how much really flows out of the tap in the homes of end users and how much water gets lost before it reaches the consumer.
Make water flow to every person around the world
The places where we can make a big difference are the fast-growing markets of India, South-East Asia, the Middle-East and Latin America, and it has put in place dedicated regional teams composed of talented people from Aliaxis companies worldwide.
Aliaxis also attaches great importance to the social aspect of supplying clean water. In Indonesia, for example, people sometimes need to walk more than 2 kilometres to fetch a bucketful of clean water. It is a great satisfaction that our products and solutions will help make clean piped water available on tap in every small village, even in the most remote corners of the world.
At Aliaxis, we make life flow.
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