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    • Strategic Water Management
      • Why should wineries take a strategic approach to water management?
      • What is involved in taking a strategic approach to water management?
      • How to integrate water into business strategies and operations
      • How to initiate change and build internal support
      • How to obtain support from owners
      • How to obtain support from managers and winemakers
      • How to obtain support from employees
    • Well Management
      • Why is active well management important?
      • What does active well management involve?
      • How to monitor well levels
      • How to monitor well levels using a tape measure
      • How to monitor well levels using a water sounder
      • How to monitor well levels using a data logger
      • How to protect water quality
      • How to use well data to support operations and growth
    • Water Use Monitoring
      • Why should wineries develop a water monitoring strategy?
      • What is involved in a water monitoring strategy?
      • How to set water monitoring goals
      • How to determine meter requirements and locations
      • How to select and install water meters
      • How to collect and manage water data
      • Collecting Data
      • Water Inventory and Balance
      • Key Performance Indicators
      • Setting Baselines
      • Using water data to plan for growth
    • Reducing Water Consumption and Wastewater Strength
      • Why should wineries reduce water consumption and wastewater strength?
      • What is involved in reducing water consumption and wastewater strength?
      • How to identify priority areas
      • How to determine root causes
      • How to identify improvements
      • General Water Use
      • Barrels: Cleaning and Sanitation
      • Barrels: Hydration
      • Tanks and Equipment: Cleaning and Sanitation
      • Bottling
      • Lees and Solids Management
    • On-site Wastewater Treatment
      • Why should wineries treat wastewater on-site?
      • What is involved in treating wastewater on-site?
      • How to reduce wastewater volume and strength
      • How to determine wastewater volume and composition
      • How to identify and select a consultant
      • How to identify options for treatment
      • On-site Treatment Case Studies
      • How to obtain required approvals
    • Alternative Water Sources
      • Why should wineries investigate alternative water sources?
      • What is involved in investigating alternative water sources?
      • How to quantify demand for alternative sources
      • How to quantify potential supply from alternative sources
      • How to evaluate feasibility of installing a basic rainwater harvesting system
      • How to evaluate feasibility of installing an advanced rainwater harvesting system
      • How to evaluate feasibility of installing a greywater recycling system
      • How to install a basic rainwater harvesting system
      • How to install an advanced rainwater harvesting system
      • How to install a greywater recycling system
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How to identify priority areas

You are here: Home / Modules / Reducing Water Consumption and Wastewater Strength / How to identify priority areas

How to Identify Priority Areas

To identify priority areas where improvements will have the most impact, wineries must develop a solid understanding of how water is used and how material enters the wastewater stream and contributes to wastewater loading.

Focusing only on reducing water use without reducing wastewater loading can result in higher wastewater concentrations.

concentration = loading ÷ volume

Monitor Water Use

Without data on water use, wineries have no way to determine if water is being used efficiently.

Water monitoring is a low-cost and easy way to get an accurate understanding of how water is being used in different processes.

This data also represents a baseline from which wineries can set goals and track progress over time.

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Refer to the Water Use Monitoring module for information on how to monitor water use.

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Example: Reducing Water Consumption and Wastewater Loading in a Sample Winery

A winery was interested in reducing it’s water consumption and wastewater loading to help reduce the potential costs and risks associated with increased growth in production.

They realised that in order to make informed and cost-effective improvements to their processes, they needed to get a better understanding and a baseline of how they used water and generated wastewater.

The winery planned their water monitoring strategy and installed meters so they could measure and obtain data on how much water is used in different activities.

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Analyze Water Use Data

Once wineries start to obtain water use data from meters, it is important to analyze that data to identify opportunities.

By establishing Water Inventories, Water Balances, and Key Performance Indicators, wineries can then focus on identifying the most promising opportunities to improve water efficiency.

When analyzing water use data wineries should focus on:

  • Large Volumes: High water use activities have the most potential to produce savings, even small improvements can have a big impact.
  • Inconsistencies: If the amount of water required to accomplish similar tasks varies significantly, it could indicate an opportunity for savings.
  • Anomalies: Any water consumption data that doesn’t seem to make sense (such as water use that can’t be accounted for) should be investigated as it may lead to potential opportunities for savings.

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Refer to Water Use Monitoring for information on how to collect and use water data.

Example: Analyzing Water Data in a Sample Winery

The winery collected water use data for their production facility in order to identify opportunities to reduce water consumption.

By developing a Water Use Inventory and tracking Key Performance Indicators, the winery discovered some interesting findings:

  • Barrel and tank cleaning were the two largest uses of water
  • Five times as much water was used to clean the cellar floors compared to cleaning the floors in the production area
  • The amount of water required to manually clean a barrel varied significantly

Sample Winery Water Inventory

Activity Volume (l/yr) % of Total
Floor Cleaning (cellar) 45,584 14%
Floor Cleaning (production) 9,163 3%
Tank Cleaning 68,845 21%
Press/Crusher Cleaning 26,489 8%
Bottling Line 16,314 5%
Filter Cleaning 23,102 7%
Hose/Line Cleaning 37,616 11%
Barrel Cleaning 72,226 22%
Barrel Hydration 36,185 11%
TOTAL 335,524 100%

Sample Winery Key Performance Indicator: Barrel Washing

Date # of Barrels Washed Water Used (l) Water Used per Barrel (l)
May 15 6 1,668 278
June 1 15 3,345 223
June 10 22 4,158 189
June 16 10 2,670 267
June 25 18 5,778 321
July 4 14 3,472 248
Average Water Used per Barrel 254

Investigate Wastewater Loading

Wineries can qualitatively identify major sources and composition of wastewater loading by visually examining processes to see what types of material are entering the wastewater stream and by talking to employees. Organic material contributes to Biological Oxygen Demand (BOD) and solids contribute to Total Suspended Solids (TSS), two of the primary measurements of wastewater strength. Common sources of wastewater loading include:

  • Grapes, stems, and other solid waste
  • Spilled juice and wine
  • Lees from tanks, barrels, filters, and other equipment
  • Bentonite and diatomaceous earth
  • Cleaning chemicals

Wineries, with the support of a consultant, can also sample wastewater at different points in the wine making process to determine how much each activity contributes to overall wastewater composition. These samples can be analyzed by a licensed laboratory to quantitatively characterize what is in the wastewater.

Typical Sources of BOD

Winery Area Avg. BOD (mg/L) % of Total BOD Load
Crush Pad 50,000 3%
Fermentation & Pressing 5,000 23%
Tank Farm 3,500 31%
Barrels 11,500 15%
Juice & Wine Clarification 8,000 15%

Virginia Tech. Enology Notes #155. August 9, 2010.

Example: Investigating Wastewater Loading in a Sample Winery

To determine the primary sources of wastewater loading, the winery asked its employees to pay attention by logging activities to see what was going down the drain. The findings from this employee activity included:

  • Very little lees ended up in the wastewater stream. Juice lees were filtered and wine lees were given extra time to settle to reduce their liquid content. In both cases the lees were separated and handled as solid waste.
  • During crush, residual grapes and juice in harvest bins were washed onto the crush pad and into the crush pad drain.
  • During the cleaning of tanks and presses, a significant amount of pomace ended up on the floor and was washed into the floor drains.
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Case Study: Identifying Hot Spots at Jackson-Triggs Okanagan Estate Winery
Oliver, BC

As one of the largest wineries in Canada, Jackson-Triggs had a significant impact on the municipal system in their small community of Oliver, BC. To help support the community, the winery started down the path to find ways to reduce their effluent volumes and went through a series of audits of what was going down the drain on a process by process basis. Through this structured approach the winery achieved a 40% reduction in their volumes in one year. Their goal has always been to find ways to reduce reuse recycle in any and every way possible.

BOD values were another challenge. The overall kg of BOD going down the drain was also reduced by 40% thanks to their process audits, but the concentration (mix) remained the same. To ensure the best possible outcome, the winery installed an anaerobic wastewater treatment plant in 2011 - for primary and secondary treatment to bring down the BOD concentration. The anaerobic plant reduces their BOD concentration by around 95%.

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WHY…

  • should wineries reduce water consumption and wastewater strength?

WHAT…

  • is involved in reducing water consumption and wastewater strength?

HOW…

  • to identify priority areas
  • to determine root causes
  • to identify improvements
  • General Water Use
  • Barrels: Cleaning and Sanitation
  • Barrels: Hydration
  • Tanks and Equipment: Cleaning and Sanitation
  • Bottling
  • Lees and Solids Management

Modules

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Strategic Water Management
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Well Management
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Water Use Monitoring

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Reducing Water Consumption and Wastewater Strength

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On-site Wastewater Treatment

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Alternative Water Sources

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© BLOOM
This project was supported through Growing Forward 2, a federal-provincial-territorial initiative.
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