Water-Energy Testimony: GE Executive Promotes Water Reuse

During last week's hearing on the Energy and Water Integration Act of 2009 (aka the Energy/H2O Bill), Stephen Bolze, the CEO of General Electric's Power and Water business, gave an illuminating testimony in support of the bill. Over the last few years, GE has gotten up to its ears in the water sector by investing heavily in water-related technologies, particularly those that improve the efficiency of wastewater treatment and reuse processes. While GE has been involved in the power sector since the company's inception over a century ago, it seems that water will play an increasingly important role in their business strategy, so the company has a vested interest in policies that address the water-energy nexus. In his testimony, Mr. Bolze focused on water reuse and had some interesting insights to share.

Right up front, it is clear that Mr. Bolze is hoping that an exploration of water and energy issues will spur growth in the reuse of wastewater , a major focus of GE's Power and Water division:

"You have already witnessed the success of your policies in catapulting the United States into a world leader in wind generation. Similar actions are needed and possible to set us on a path to leadership in the area of water reuse."

Although GE is obviously concerned with improving their bottom line, growth in wastewater reuse - and improvements in related technologies - can be a great thing for our rivers and communities. Water is integral to our quality of life, and with local water supplies stretched thin in many parts of the world, reusing wastewater can help keep freshwater in rivers and avoid the need to build more water diversions and develop energy-intensive supplies. Mr. Bolze seems to understand the importance of water, explaining in his testimony:

"Water is not only the lifeblood for humans, but it’s also the lifeblood of industry. In fact, it could be said our economy runs on water. Unfortunately, water demand already exceeds supply in many parts of the world. And, as the world’s population continues to grow at an unprecedented rate, many more areas are expected to experience this imbalance in the near future"

Mr. Bolze goes on to cite some examples of countries successfully meeting water demands through reuse. While the United States reuses about 6% of its 11.4 trillion gallons of municipal wastewater each year, Israel currently reuses 70% of its wastewater. Australia and Singapore are also investing in wastewater reuse with goals of reclaiming 30% of their wastewater by 2015 and 2010, respectively.

One sector that Mr. Bolze believes should rely on recycled wastewater is thermoelectric power generation, which accounts for 39% of all freshwater withdrawals:

"Some communities are already treating this wastewater and using it for applications including power plant cooling water (e.g., Burbank, Las Vegas, Phoenix). A recent DOE-sponsored study looked at 110 new power plants proposed for construction in 2007 and found that municipal wastewater treatment plants located within a 25 mile radius from the proposed power plants could satisfy 97% of the new power plant cooling water needs. On average, one large wastewater treatment plant can completely satisfy the cooling demand for each of these power plants."

Much of the rest of Mr. Bolze's testimony is devoted to touting the sustainability commitments that GE has made. He does mention an informative white paper that GE recently published on how to address water scarcity through wastewater reuse. Or in other words, "how to protect your water supplies by buying GE products." There really is some great information in this white paper that can help you inform policy makers on how to implement wastewater reuse in your community.

To read Stephen Bolze's complete testimony, click here.