Industry guideline for increased reuse of water in the dairy industry

Introduction

Reduced water use necessary in the food industry

There is a desire and requirement to reduce water use and waste water generation in the food industry to promote the transition to a climate-neutral and circular industry. It is important to achieve effective resource utilization by:

• Use water-saving techniques and
• Reuse water.

Water of drinking water quality is used too often

Sweden has one of the world's highest standards for food safety. A contributing factor is that almost everywhere water of drinking water quality is used at the slightest suspicion of product safety risks. This leads to the overuse of potable water, for example to cool the outside of engines even though there is a very low probability that this water can contaminate the product.

Risk assessment necessary if other water quality is to be used

Going against standard procedure and using other than potable water (where safe) requires a comprehensive risk assessment. This work is both expensive and unproven, and in many situations there is a lack of "predecessors" who could contribute with open data/knowledge.

We therefore wanted to contribute with the basis for the development of policy and instruments to increase sustainability around the safe reuse of water in the food industry by revising the national industry guidelines for the dairy industry. This will create the opportunity to reduce drinking water use and the generation of wastewater in the food industry.

Expected effects and results

The revised industry guidelines will be used directly by companies in their own efforts to increase the rate of implementation of, and reduce the risk of, water saving measures. They will also serve as scientific background support and a source of knowledge in the contact between companies and authorities in risk assessments around water reuse.

As a result of changes in industry guidelines (within the project) and after the implementation of increased reuse of water at the dairies (after the project), drinking water demand is expected to decrease by up to 70% from today's levels.

Project structure and implementation

In the project the following results were obtained:

• Identified typical, industry-wide water-saving measures
• Conducted risk analyzes for identified opportunities
• Compiled and adapted previous studies regarding the division of water into different qualities
• Transfered the results to industry standard formats and updated the guidelines according to the Swedish Food Agency's practice.