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.



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

inline-meter-1

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.

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.

activity-worksheet-mu



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.

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%.





How to identify priority areas