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by Charles Sellers, Managing Director at Vantage Point Technologies Ltd
I'm looking for innovative solutions in water use, recycling, waste etc which could be adopted in developing a smart water city.
These innovations would be implemented into a new 2,000 smart homes. We are implementing in Garden Village/city in the North East of England for homes, retail and commercial buildings, including the urban environment and infrastructure.
Which technologies do you suggest as most efficient, used and proven to be the best?
Take a look at Biopolus, they developed a remarkable way to decentralise the treatmeant of waste water in a wonderful greenhouse park that blends in with the city.
Besides the different solutions that are already mentioned, such as rainwater harvesting etc. The thing that makes a city smart is the way all these different solutions work together to react to different, extreme, circumstances. For instance at the prediction of heavy rainfall the city will actively drain natural water ways and water retention at forehand so there is enough space for water storage at the time of heavy rainfall.
In the Netherlands we are currently working on these kind of automated systems, not only to prevent our cities from flooding, but we can also win energy from carefully managed differences in water level. Take a look at the Dutch water sector.
Data collection and real-time alerts are essential for a smart city project. Please see the attached this video which details how Ayyeka and the City of Cincinnati worked together to create a smart sewer network.
Hello Charles, EcoloBlue Atmospheric Water Generators create up to 10,000 liters of water a day individually, or up to 30 liters/day on a small scale, and 6 models of various production levels in between. Our home/office units work in conditions of 0°-45° C, and 35%-95% humidity. The industrial models work in conditions of 0°-60° C, and 25%-100% humidity. Email me at jepsenh@ecoloblue.com and I'd be happy to send you some spec sheets. Our industrial machines could work well for the overall projects, or our smaller units could be placed in each home for their drinking water supply.
Hi Charles, It sounds like a wonderful project! There are a number of options to consider but for starters, I would recommend watching this video Divyajyoti 251116 - YouTube It is a video of a recently completed project. The building featured in the video will soon be 100% self sufficient in terms of energy, water, and waste. I'm happy to chat about specifics if you would like. I can be reached at ambwat@gmail.com
Hi Charles. Whatever technology is applied it is important that as a Smart City the design is created for the future with an understanding of the past. There are many options for doing this and we have boiled them down into a tidy table that relates to how water relates to your design: water harvesting, drainage design, flood adaptation/mitigation and so on. The table can be found at: http://www.climsystems.com/resources/applications-and-methods-for-extreme-rainfall-analysis. Often it is best to enage early on issues pertaining to rainfall (and other climate factors like heat) and how they could impact on city/building design. Don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions. peter@climsystems.com or+64273169777.
Soneera Water has an excellent solution that you may want to consider. Please feel free to contact me to discuss at peter@soneerawater.com or +1 216 221 1233. Thanks.
It will depend on the effluent main characteristics. I believe that a simple treatment as screening, flotation, aerobic biological treatment, followed by a more intensive coagulation/flotation, filtration and ozone/UV treatment (and only as backup a reverse-osmosis) process, with a storage tank with chlorination is more than enough to ensure the water cycle.
The sludge for the different treatments could be treated by anaerobic treatment (even the coagulation/flotation that should be a a smaller amount when compared with the rest), producing bio-gas that could be applied to ensure the anaerobic treatment (or more energy, but I have my doubts...).
The first process, to treat water is proved, however as higher power consumption due ozone and UV treatment besides the aeration. The second (sludge treatment) except the referred inorganic/organic sludge is also been used.