Water Management

Melchior Busuttil

Diploma in MNF Excellence – Water Management

Assignment

A beverage company is thinking of setting up a new production line for the production of bottled water. They plan to produce 5,000 1.5-litre bottles a day. Their options for sourcing water is either a registered bore-hole with water having a salinity of 5,000 uS/cm or town-water having a salinity of 1,500 uS/cm. The premises will have a roof area of 1,500 m2. There is no sewerage connection at the premises. The factory will employ 25 fulltimers. The premises have an underground reservoir of 5,000 m3 but no other water-related infrastructure such as roof tanks, pumps, etc.

The student is requested to:

P1 – identify and describe the pros and cons of using ground water versus town-water (from a water treatment, economic, logistic, regulatory and water quality point of view)

From a Maltese businessman’s point of view, using ground water pumped from a registered (licensed) water bore-hole is a preferred choice to using town water. The regulation for extracting water legally from a borehole extends to the fact that the water is metered, however the water is free. This is likely to remain free for a long time due to political issues. The combined pressure from Maltese businesses to use this water for free is and will continue to put pressure on the government from taking the right measurements and decisions.

Town water needs to be treated through the installation of carbon filters. This is necessary to eliminate traces of chlorine before the RO process. Ground water has higher salinity which means that the water not only needs to be injected into

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Melchior Busuttil

Diploma in MNF Excellence – Water Management

the RO with more pressure but also there is a lower recovery percentage of permeate water.

Having said so, there are still economical advantages versus using town water. Refer to the calculations below:

Water Consumption Calculations

52 Week/Year 5...