MUNICIPAL WATER/WASTEWATER AGENCY SERVICES: SHIFTING FROM LINEAR TO CIRCULAR

Municipal water/wastewater agencies play an essential role in community well-being. Traditionally, municipal water/wastewater agencies have followed a linear (“take, make, dispose“) mode of thinking based on resource extraction. Often, the model follows this form: a public agency transports water (frequently over great distances) and delivers it inexpensively and without restrictions to customers, who use it liberally once and then discharge it to the wastewater treatment facility, where the public agency treats and discharges it (often without further economic use). Among other issues, water/wastewater agencies use enormous amounts of energy. Drinking water and wastewater systems account for nearly 4% of U.S. energy usage, and emit 45 million tons of greenhouse gases annually. These core service providers must transition to circular economy modes of thinking and programming in order to meet emerging 21st century needs. Some leading municipal water/wastewater agencies in the U.S., notably the East Bay Municipal Utility District (EBMUD) in California have begun the long shift toward a more circular approach. EBMUD’s wastewater operation has gone from being a major purchaser of electricity to becoming North America’s first publicly-owned wastewater treatment facility that is a net producer of renewable energy, using anaerobic digestion of food waste and conversion of biogas to electricity. In addition, it produces soil products, nine million gallons per day of recycled water, and offers a way (through acceptance of brine wastewater) for California’s key agricultural production area (the Central Valley) to begin to manage the harmful build-up of salt in the region’s soil. Traditional key service providers, such as water/wastewater agencies, can better address 21st century needs by extensively incorporating circular approaches to the definition of issues, articulation of goals, identification of opportunities, and development of feedback loop-based programs that support environmental and economic sustainability.