Home » What we do » Working with business » Green game-changers » Water

Water innovations

HIWARE BAZAR - A MODEL FOR THE REST OF INDIA?

A small Indian village called Hiware Bazar is proving that going green makes economic as well as ecological sense.

Fifteen years ago villagers could only cultivate a tenth of their farmland, and 168 of its 182 families lived below the poverty line. Drought was common, and made worse by villagers who continued to cut down forests to expand their land use.

Today, agriculture is booming and the average income has risen 20-fold. Did Hiware Bazar receive foreign aid? Definitely not – they took the decision to look after their natural environment by planting trees and digging trenches to trap water.

Thanks to implementing a variety of sustainability efforts, the grass harvest shot up from 100 to 6,000 tonnes between 2000 and 2004, while milk production has risen from 150 litres a day in the mid-90s to 4,000 litres now.

Now the village has one of the highest GDPs in India and lessons from this small village can be model to the rest of the country to show that even the fastest developing economies are dependent on nature’s services – and only balancing its preservation with its use will ensure long term prosperity for all.

Watch the story of Hiware here

Benefits: biodiversity, water efficiency

FINANCING SYSTEM FOR SUSTAINABLE WATERSHED MANAGEMENT

Well managed watersheds purify water, regulate water flow, stop soil erosion and provide vital habitats for species. It’s crucial to keep watersheds healthy, so people and nature can continue to use the water that flows downstream from them. Ecuadorian water utility the Water and Sewage Metropolitan Enterprise is taking an innovative approach to protecting watersheds. Along with US charity The Nature Conservancy, it has set up the Fund for the Protection of Water to collect payments from downstream water users, including water utilities, hydropower providers, farmers using irrigation and brewers, and direct it to upstream watershed management. This is a promising model for watershed management.

Benefits: biodiversity and natural resources
Innovators: Fund for the Protection of Water, The Nature Conservancy

BIOREMEDIATION WATER TREATMENT

Bioremediation is the process of introducing friendly bacteria to treat polluted water. It can also be used anywhere where water is polluted by eutrophication – where a water body has high concentration of plant nutrients, which encourages excessive algae growth.

WWF has also used this simple and low cost technique in the River Ganges in India, where a small town in Kapur releases over 450m litres of untreated sewage into the river a day. The bacteria was added into the drainage system to clean the water, helping to conserve the river's health for the local people who depend on it for their livelihoods.

Benefits: biodiversity

Watch a video

INDUSTRIAL SYMBIOSIS – MUTUALLY PROFITABLE RESOURCE SHARING

One company’s waste can be another’s raw material. Instead of paying to send 500 tonnes of sand from its foundry to landfill, MJ Allen sent the sand to Hanson, which used it in asphalt manufacturing.

The businesses are both part of the National Industrial Symbiosis Partnership (NISP). Industrial Symbiosis programmes facilitate partnerships that generate mutual value where members exchange materials, energy, water and by-products and share assets, logistics and expertise. Since 2005, NISP members have saved £780m, used 47 million tonnes less water, and reduced CO₂ emissions by 30 million tonnes.

Benefits: reduce, reuse, recycle; carbon reduction; water efficiency; energy efficiency
Innovators: National Industrial Symbiosis Programme

Watch video

WATER RECYCLING

More than two billion people live in areas of water scarcity. Innovative processes for recycling and reclaiming wastewater will play a vital role in relieving pressures from freshwater sources such as rivers and aquifers. For example, the city of Singapore meets 30% of its drinking water demand by using reclaimed wastewater. The process also consumes less energy, as the water is only purified once. Shifting to recycling is a priority in many regions and key steps towards this goal include innovative processes and building consumer acceptance of drinking reclaimed water.

Benefits: water efficiency
Innovators: Singapore; Orange County, California

BIOROCK CORAL REEF RESTORATION

Coral reefs support rich biodiversity and are extremely important to the economies of nearby regions. But they face major threats from global warming and over-fishing. Radical innovation is needed to save them. The Biorock restoration technique creates structures which support the growth of coral fragments grafted to them. The technique is controversial. There’s a lack of peer-reviewed scientific studies to show its efficacy. However, assuming it can be replicated widely, it could make a huge contribution to coral reef restoration and the ability of reefs to adapt to rapidly changing ocean conditions in the 21st century.

Benefits: biodiversity & natural resources
Innovators: Biorock

WASTEWATER TREATMENT WETLANDS

Natural wetlands cleanse our water, restore soil ecology and create a habitat for wildlife. Many companies are developing water management systems to treat water for pollutants based on natural wetlands – saving water and energy compared to conventional systems. American company Natural Systems Utilities (NSU) creates water management systems modelled on wetlands, which optimise reuse of water, energy and nutrients and can create habitat for wetland wildlife. NSU estimate that their water infrastructure systems use up to 50% less water and emit up to 2.5 times less carbon than conventional systems.

Benefits: biodiversity & natural resources
Innovators: Natural Systems Utilities

DRIP IRRIGATION FOR THE 'BOTTOM OF THE PYRAMID'

The UN predicts that two-thirds of the world’s population will live under water-stressed conditions in 2025. Drip irrigation can help cut water stress, bolster the livelihoods of smallholder farmers and improve food security. Farmers switching to drip irrigation from flood irrigation use 60% less water, increase their crop yields by a third, use less labour and fertiliser, and cut the energy they need to pump water, according to international water technology firm Driptech. Innovators including Driptech and IDEI, an Indian not-for-profit, have been distributing affordable, practical drip-irrigation technology to ‘bottom of the pyramid’ smallholder farmers.

Benefits: water efficiency, biodiversity & natural resources
Innovators: IDEI, Driptech