Did you know that most households use around 280 gallons of water a day? With a staggering number like that, you’d think the tap was going to run dry any day now. On top of that, there are more ways to use and create wastewater than turning on a faucet in your home. Industries like natural gas and oil use billions of gallons of water every year. Clean water is a precious resource in our world and being able to reclaim that water is good for people and the environment.
However, with water reclamation, science has found ways of reusing water that has already gone down the drain.
On the other hand, there are more ways to use and create wastewater than turning on a faucet in your home. Industries like natural gas and oil use billions of gallons of water every year. Clean water is a precious resource in our world and being able to reclaim that water is good for people and the environment.
Types of Water
To understand water reclamation, it’s important to first understand the different types of water that exist. In terms of usefulness and cleanliness, there are three types of water and the water that flows in and out of your home will be in one of these stages coming in and another going out.
First, the water that enters a home or comes out of a tap is called white water. Don’t put on your life jacket and get out your paddle just yet, white water coming out of your tap is a bit different than rushing rapids. This refers to the clean, potable, contaminant free water that is coming out of your tap.
Blackwater is what most people think about when someone talks about wastewater. This refers to the soiled water that is being flushed down the toilet which contains fecal matter. There is much being done around the world to reclaim black water at wastewater treatment plants and in the lab.
However, a large portion of waste water is what is called grey water. Grey water is wastewater that does not include significant amounts of fecal matter but, because of small traces of effluent, chemicals, and bacteria, still isn’t potable. This includes water that you use to wash your hands, mop the floor, or do a load of laundry. There are many grey water systems that can reclaim this type of water.
How Big Industries Use Water
Of course, oil and gas industries us a large amount of water when fracturing. Water is mixed with sand and chemicals to create a fracking fluid that helps reduce corrosion in wells, prevents clogs and bacteria growth, stops wells and fractures from closing, and lubricates extraction. The problem is, water used in this way can be lost completely or it can often be returned with potentially harmful chemicals and contaminants. What can be done about that? Fracking Wastewater Treatment
The goal for water reclamation for oil and gas industry jobs is to keep the water in a closed loop so it can be kept and controlled. As a water reclamation company, the process Water Cleaning Services goes through to achieve 75 to 80 percent freshwater recovery per flowback job includes state-of-the-art equipment like an electrocoagulation (EC) unit, two reverse osmosis (RO) units and 3 to 4 tanks. This allows us to maintain proper PH and total dissolved solid levels which help us get the most efficiency out of reverse osmosis. For more, please visit our process page to read about the treatment of fracturing fluid, flowback procedure, and air rig drilling water recovery.