Ecobreves – BRAZIL: New System to Recycle Sewer Water

By IPS Correspondents and - - Reprint | | Print |

RIO DE JANEIRO, Jan 21 2008 (IPS) - A system to make use of a portion of domestic wastewater in cities with water shortages was developed at the International Water Reutilization Center, based at the University of Sao Paulo. The process, subject of the doctoral thesis completed last year by Ricardo Costanzi, professor at the Western Paraná State University, uses ultrafiltration membranes to complement the activated mud treatment usually employed by sewage plants in which aeration and bacteria eliminate many of the contaminants.

Many industries are already treating their own runoff to re-use it, but “the novelty is to be able to do so on a major scale… (reutilizing) a maximum of 10 to 20 percent” of the water consumed,” Costanzi told Tierramérica.

The destination of the water produced by this method will be industry, big irrigation projects, urban clean-up and other uses that do not require potable water.