Purpose

Drought is becoming an increasingly urgent challenge in the Netherlands, placing growing pressure on the availability of drinking water for the food processing industry. Due to the national priority sequence for water allocation, industrial users receive low priority during water scarcity, which threatens the continuity of water-intensive operations. At the same time, expanding or obtaining new industrial water connections is becoming more difficult because of system-wide freshwater constraints. Water use and wastewater characteristics vary widely across the food industry, making generic solutions difficult to implement. This creates a clear need for practical, sector-specific knowledge and relevant information that support water reduction and water reuse.

This project aims to consolidate and translate existing expertise into accessible, practical guidance, helping the sector strengthen its water security and contribute to a more sustainable and climate-resilient freshwater system.

Water consumption

Large water users, such as food processing plants, are encouraged to reduce their drinking water consumption by 20% compared to the 2016–2019 baseline period. This effort is supported by the development of water profiles, water scans, and benchmarks that provide insight into the savings potential within each sector. For companies that use more than 100,000 m³ of water per year, specific measures and targeted support are offered to help optimize their water use. Water use can be limited in this way, however, the transition towards water reuse requires a more vigorous effort.

Food safety and legal implications

The food safety and legal implications have to be addressed, as well as addressing the discharge of the more concentrated brines. Legislation and regulations governing the use of water in food‑processing operations are primarily focused on ensuring safety. The law requires that any water coming into contact with food must be drinking water, or of drinking‑water quality. When a source other than potable water is used, the manufacturer must ensure food safety through Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP)‑based risk management. The regulatory framework does not prescribe specific water treatment technologies that must be applied; instead, it focuses on the required quality parameters and the monitoring procedures associated with them.

This project will aim to follow a stepwise approach, based on the first part of HACCP principles, to implement cascading and reuse of drinking water in food processing companies. This approach will involve certain general requirements, but will also address industry-specific challenges. For example, dairy processing will have different specific hazards in the water system and different requirements for water quality as compared to a processor of carrots or potatoes.

Financial implications

The financial implications are an important driver of the change management. In the past, water was cheap and available. It is expected that this is not the case in the future, as for example due to increased periods of drought or simply because priority is given to new living areas that require drinking water. Nowadays, business cases related to water are generally made with prices from 5-10 years back. As we are now on a tipping point related to drinking water availability and sewage water treatment capacity this is not realistic anymore. It is therefore key to address business cases with the anticipated prices for drinking water and sewer discharge in the near future, combined with the risks of water shortage in times of drought. This will give a very different picture of the costs and benefits of implementing water reuse.

Expected results

The project will result in knowledge on/a set of handlebars (guidelines/tools) for both industry that will facilitate: - Water reuse processes for specific food industry cases - Microbial hazard identification and advice on monitoring programs, - True-pricing tools to make a realistic, future-proof financial estimate of different situations

AquaForward: Driving Water Reuse in Food Production (KoM26013)

Projectstatus

Lopend

Thema

Water reuse, food industry

Projectregeling

KOM_M4_Voedsel