CLFP Process Water Survey Results

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The California Department of Water Resources (DWR) formed the Commercial, Industrial, and Institutional Task Force to review water conservation efforts in these sectors and to make recommendations to the Legislature regarding the potential for reduced water use by 2020. Food processing is one of several sectors of specific interest to the task force and DWR. Due to the limited amount of data available on this topic some regulators and legislators seem to believe that industrial water consumption could be reduced by 20 percent by 2020 without imposing an undue burden on businesses.

CLFP is actively engaged with this issue and recently conducted a survey of its members regarding process water use, efficiency, and conservation. The objective of the survey was to obtain data to support CLFP’s contention that food processors have active water conservation programs, use water efficiently, and often reuse water multiple times.

CLFP received survey responses from 29 facilities; we appreciate the time and interest members devoted to this effort. CLFP will not disclose the responses from individual firms, only the summary results. A key finding was that almost two-thirds of the facilities used less process water per ton of finished product in 2010 than in 2006. For those that used less water in 2010, the average reduction of water use per unit of production was 23 percent since 2006. This is substantial evidence that the food processing industry is doing its part with respect to water conservation. In addition, 90 percent of the respondents indicated that they have active water conservation programs and they have undertaken a wide range of measures in the facilities to achieve reductions.

The conservation programs being implemented by food processors may, in part, be in response to recent increases in municipal water rates. Several survey respondents reported increases ranging from 28 percent to 257 percent since 2001.

The survey results affirmed that the food processing industry engages in substantial water reuse. Fifteen of the 29 respondents indicated that they reuse the water on site at least twice, with an average re-use of over 50 percent. Several extract a significant portion of their water supply from the raw product. Almost half of the processors reuse process water to irrigate crops.

For more information about the survey and the CII Task Force contact Trudi Hughes in the CLFP office.

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