Policy Archives - Artemis Water Strategy

Dec 05 2016

Water jobs: The faces behind the new water tech economy

As US infrastructure crumbles and water supplies dwindle, the cities that are leading deployment of distributed water solutions are finding an economic upside to their water woes– new businesses and new jobs. Distributed water systems save water by treating and reusing water onsite, and those systems require a new breed of engineers. In addition to the almost 300,000 workers that are needed for the US’s existing water systems, onsite water systems will require certified mobile engineers to maintain distributed systems in offices, stores, hospitals and other commercial and residential buildings.

“Historically, the average U.S. water utility control system specialist was a high school graduate with an Associate’s degree, supplemented by years of on-the-job training,” notes David Roberts Associate Vice President and National Practice Leader for Automation Services at engineering giant Black & Veatch.

Distributed systems will require both the technical skills necessary for maintaining water treatment systems inside a water plant as well as higher-level client support skills and operational precision in dynamic environments. The timing of distributed water systems is particularly suited for the water industry, where 30-50% of the executives in water utilities are scheduled for retirement over the next 3-5 years. After massive expansion of water infrastructure in the late 1970s and early 1980s, we are faced with an aging physical infrastructure as well as an aging workforce.“Promotions and advancement were the results of a combination of experience accumulated over time, along with skills examinations and certification requirements. This essentially created an industry of ‘experienced specialists’ whose breadth of knowledge cannot be found in any written manual.” Concern about these retirements and the associated “brain drain” are driving joint initiatives to recruit military veterans and other experienced engineers. The task of replacing those key operators is set to present another challenge, and a risk, for US water systems.

How many jobs in modernizing water infrastructure?

The towns and the businesses that move early to implement distributed systems may see the same kinds of jobs and economic growth that the solar and wind industries have generated in early-mover markets like Texas and California. The businesses that build the first onsite water systems are positioned to equip neighboring areas with those solutions and grow rapidly. According to the Solar Foundation, the solar industry has outpaced most sectors of the US economy, adding workers at a rate nearly 12 times faster than the overall economy and accounting for 1.2% of all jobs created in the U.S., resulting in over 115,000 new domestic living-wage jobs.

Top Image: Brookings, Bottom Image: The Solar Foundation

Jul 11 2016

Can San Francisco’s integrated water policy unlock the market for onsite water?

SFPUC-Sidewalk-2 — Living Machines’ Onsite Water Treatment Cells at SFPUC Headquarters

Cleantech investors have been stymied by the US water market. In 2015, water tech accounted for only 2.2% of cleantech funding, and 0.07% of the broader technology start-up market. While green building has driven the installations of renewable energy and new materials over the last decade, distributed water solutions have struggled to establish themselves in high-performance buildings. At the same time, US water utilities have piloted a host of promising technologies that treat water in buildings and tap into the energy potential within water infrastructure, but they have not succeeded in deploying at mass scale. After successfully piloting in here in the US, many of our best technologies have deserted home markets for Asia and Europe.

The City of San Francisco has been stepping forward to break the log jam of pilots and public debates with a comprehensive policy for distributed water. Last July, it enacted the first mandatory requirement for onsite water reclaim. All new buildings over 250,000 sqft must treat and recycle wastewater for toilet and urinal flushing as well as irrigation. In addition, all new buildings must identify potential sources for reclaimed water. “We have the opportunity to create a new water management paradigm by incorporating innovative strategies to conserve, reuse, and diversify our water supply,” the San Francisco Public Utility Commission (SFPUC) states in its 2014 Blueprint for Onsite Systems. “One of those strategies is integrating smaller, decentralized, onsite water systems into our broader centralized systems.” *

Integrated civic policy: Water, public health and urban planning

Since 2012, San Francisco’s water program has brought three local agencies – the SFPUC, the San Francisco Department of Public Health, and the San Francisco Department of Building Inspection – to work together to develop a streamlined permitting process and regulatory framework. In 2013, the SFPUC expanded the program to allow buildings to share non-potable water across property lines. During the first two years of the program, twenty projects formally submitted water budget applications to the SFPUC.

city-ordinance-codifies-process-streamlined-from-kehoe-presentation-10-1-2016 — Source: San Francisco Public Utility Commission, “San Francisco’s Non-Potable Water Program” October 1, 2015

After an initial series of pilots, SFPUC’s Director of Water Resources Paul Kehoe notes that “we came across a number of other developers who wanted onsite water treatment in their buildings and districts in San Francisco, so we created a non-potable water program.” Through that program, the city has aligned policies for public health and public spaces to develop a process for private property owners to install onsite water systems. Kehoe states that over 40 buildings are proposing plans to collect and treat water onsite for non-potable applications such as toilet flushing and irrigation. “We’ve been learning and working with others throughout the country to show that you can successfully integrate decentralized onsite water treatment systems into your broader, centralized infrastructure to reduce the use of potable water.”

Public Health, Public Spaces

SFPUC has sought input from architects and engineers to examine how integrated design can achieve new levels of efficiency and build resilience in the face of severe storms and the earthquakes. These discussions have gone beyond the basics of installing water reclaim systems to look at synergies between water and energy management, public spaces and public health. Water is seldom seen in tUS buildings beyond the fountains at the entrance. The pipes that deliver water from remote centralized water systems are hidden. In installing its own onsite reclaim system for its new headquarters, the San Francisco Public Utility Commission (SFPUC) chose to showcase water treatment.

San Francisco Public Utility Commission Headquarters: Image by Living Machine Systems (http://www.livingmachines.com/portfolio/municipal-government/san-francisco-public-utilities-commission,-san-fra.aspx) — Image: Living Machine Systems

In a recent presentation at the Aspen Global Change Institute, Kehoe spoke about the role of “process-focused and context-sensitive principles” in building resilient cities.

Building on a legacy of trailblazing policy in San Francisco

San Francisco has a long history of trailblazing new kinds of legislation that have led national trends. In 1983, San Francisco made global news with the first mandatory requirements** for all workplaces to accommodate non-smokers. Yes, there was a trend toward limiting smoking in theaters and public places, but had the city gone too far? In retrospect, San Francisco was among the cities that pioneered a sea change in public policy around smoking. Within a decade, smoking bans outside of buildings as well as inside of them, became common throughout the US. Will distributed water systems also become ubiquitous in a few years?

Green Building has redefined energy and materials in public buildings, but it has left water largely untouched. Urban sprawl and car-centric cities are rapidly being replaced by towns that integrate natural spaces and ecological corridors that bring people together and promote a sense of well-being.

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*Connor, Theresa. BLUEPRINT FOR ONSITE WATER SYSTEMS: A STEP-BY-STEP GUIDE FOR DEVELOPING A LOCAL PROGRAM TO MANAGE ONSITE WATER SYSTEMS. Publication. WERF, WRF, and the San Francisco Public Utilities Commission, 23 Sept. 2014. Web. 17 June 2016.

**Source: NELSON PADBERG CONSULTING. POST-ELECTION REPORT. PROPOSITION P SAN FRANCISCO, CALIFORNIA.. 1984 January. RJ Reynolds. https://www.industrydocumentslibrary.ucsf.edu/tobacco/docs/nlpm0096

Jun 27 2016

Hawaii’s sweltering heat emerges as a new challenge to schools

As Hawaii’s cooling tradewinds have faltered and ocean temperatures rise, Hawaii’s leadership moved earlier this year to invest a significant chunk of its resources, more than $100M, to cooling its schools. Last year, temperatures sweltered above 100 degrees, and health concerns forced the Hawaii Department of Education (HIDOE) to consider suspending school for “heat days.” In Hawaii, the heat crisis in schools is shining a stark light on in-building heat as an obstacle to the State’s prosperity and economic survival. Only 6% of the state’s classrooms have air-conditioning, and Hawaii’s Department of Education (HIDOE) estimates that installing air conditioning in all classrooms would cost $1.7B and saddle schools with an even heavier burden of maintenance expenses.

Air conditioning: Antidote to the “Curse of the Tropics”

Thermal image taken in classroom at Ilima Intermedate in Ewa Beach on September 12, 2014. The Celsius temperature reading of 35.0 in the upper left corner is equal to 95 degrees Fahrenheit. — Image: PF Bentley/Civil Beat: Thermal image taken in a classroom at Hawaii’s Ilima Intermediate middle school, where midday temperatures measured 35.0 C or 95 Fahrenheit.

Air conditioning has been one of the unheralded tools behind the success of other tropical economies, such as Singapore, and desert economies such as Israel, in the latter 20th Century. Economist Jeffrey Sachs quantified the impact that air conditioning has had in tropical economies on productivity by simulating temperate environments that enabled northern countries in Europe and North America to attain leadership during the 19th and 20th centuries.

But as air conditioning helps Hawaii overcome one of the “curses of the tropics,” it carries a financial burden and makes their energy burden heavier. An analysis of schools with campus-wide AC compared with schools of similar size and relative location that do not have campus-wide AC indicates that the cost of electricity may increase by more than 80% in an air conditioned school. The HIDOE spends more than $62 million a year on electricity, gas, water, and sewage fees — a 50 percent increase over the past ten years. HIDOE estimates it will pay an electricity bill of $47.6 million this year.Worldwide power consumption for air conditioning alone is forecast to surge 33-fold by 2100 as developing world incomes rise and urbanization advances.

Ka Hei: Hawaii makes cooling part of the curriculum

With limited budgets, the state of Hawaii has designed a program that taps into community resources along with innovation and renewable energy sources. It’s ambitious Ka Hei program combines the facility upgrades for cooling with science and engineering education. The program is attempting design the heat abatement program to empower our students and teachers to adapt new ideas about sustainability for the benefit of our greater community. In Hawaiin, Ka Hei is the snare made of ropes that the Hawaii god Maui used to capture the sun. Ka Hei also means “to absorb as knowledge or skill.”

Through a combination of energy efficiency measures, clean energy generation (including the HIDOE’s ongoing photovoltaic project, small-scale wind turbines, and other viable systems) and a comprehensive sustainability program, HIDOE is designing Ka Hei to improve the learning environment so students and teachers can perform at their best. Current options include passive cooling, which prevents heat from entering a building, and night thermal flushing to get rid of stored heat in a classroom overnight. Even when supplemental mechanical cooling is necessary, these concepts make conventional air conditioning (AC) systems more efficient. HIDOE has also been piloting new technologies that could reduce cost and be more sustainable. One of the most promising is photovoltaic (PV) air conditioning. A portable classroom at Waianae High is into its second year of running a pilot system using three PV panels for each AC unit.

Futuristic design grows out of need for savings — The “energy positive” building sits on the campus of Ewa Elementary School. Image: Hawaii Department of Education

Jun 17 2015

Which solutions can respond in time?

Courtesy of National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

As California counts its water reserves in months, which “shovel ready” solutions can help it respond?

More than $320M of California’s emergency drought relief funds were left unspent a year after they were approved, according to reports from the California State Finance Department released last week. As the State starts a grim countdown to the limits of its reservoirs, the timeframes on the California water crisis has suddenly shifted from years to months, California’s water system has been built with 25 year capital plans, where even the fast-track water projects take 2 to 6 years to complete.

“We need to get the money out the door now for shovel-ready projects and existing water programs that only need funding to get started. No delay. No red tape.” California Senate President pro Tempore Kevin de León (D-Los Angeles) stated back in March.

While the State scrambles to keep water running, water tech innovations that are both “shovel ready” but also built for plug and play installation are gaining attention. Laura Shenkar from Artemis joined Frances Spivy-Weber, Vice-Chair of the State Water Resources Control Board, Lance Donny, founder and CEO of OnFarm, Mike Lord, vice president of engineering for Effluent Free Desalination Corp (EFD) and Robin Gilthorpe, CEO of WaterSmart on June 5 to discuss some examples on public radio, the KQED Forum.

Nov 03 2014

Stanford eyes solar success for paths to water innovation

A new study from Stanford breaks new ground in defining the gap in water innovation, and proposes how the US can fire up innovation to face water scarcity, “The Path to Water Innovation.“

Advanced science and engineering are changing the face of telephony and communications, as well as energy and healthcare, but it hasn’t yet reshaped water technology. For example, eyes primary approach to treating sewage worldwide today, the activated sludge process, was invented over 100 years ago. It applies oxygen and bacteria to sewage to reduce the organic components. Despite incremental improvements, activated sludge processing remains largely unchanged in those hundred years, and is an important target for improvement. This process alone uses over 60% of the electricity required for sewage treatment.

The market opportunity for innovation is massive for innovation in activated sludge is massive, with a global municipal market of $2.2 billion, and an industrial market of $1.8 billion.

The Stanford study compares the levels of innovation in renewable energy and water, as measured by patents filed.

Simply raising the price of water services could have a dramatic impact on driving new solutions forward. Studies have found that higher energy prices encourage greater investment by energy users in conservation technologies.

“We see water scarcity in the Western US as an opportunity to consider new and innovative solutions and direct new funding into water innovation,” says the study’s lead author, Dr. Newsha Ajami. “On a separate effort, we are working with policy leaders and utility officials to identify how financing models and policies from renewable energy and energy efficiency in California has led adoption of solar and wind, and might apply some of those models for driving water tech.” Ajami cites new models “virtual water trading on the local level” that mimick solar feedback tariffs and government sponsored funding mechanisms as some examples for the future.