Once water has been used, it is emptied down the drains. At this point it has become waste water, and the sewage network takes it to wastewater treatment plants.
This water is dirty and cannot be released into rivers because it would pollute them. At the treatment plants, they apply various treatments to make the water suitable to be poured into the river. These treatments serve to separate out fats, solids and organic material. But this water is still loaded with micro-organisms. When it is emptied into a river, the concentration of micro-organisms is diluted to negligible levels.
What is reclaimed water?
The reclaimed water we use to water parks and gardens has another treatment applied to it focused on disinfection (eliminating micro-organisms). The level of disinfection, in the case of parks and gardens, is quite stringent, although not as much so as for the treatment of reclaimed water used to irrigate agricultural products.
In conclusion, reclaimed water is water that has already been purified to empty into the river, and then had a disinfectant treatment applied to it.
Another example would be reclaimed water that is used to water golf courses. Maintaining them requires many tons of water.
However, this sector is aware of the limitations on water in Spain, above all in dry areas such as the east and south of the peninsula, which is why they have sought solutions for more efficient water consumption, and are trying to use new resources such as reclaimed water.
Here at Acideka Group, we try to apply a circular economy in all of our processes and methods, trying to give a new life to each of the elements we use in our products.
