Arizona Pure Water Brew
Challenge puts some fun into Water Reuse
Over 25
craft brewers from around Arizona competed in the Arizona Pure Water Brew
Challenge for the honor of making the best beer from purified wastewater at the
17th Annual WateReuse Symposium in Phoenix AZ on September 12. Most
of the approx. 480 conference delegates enthusiastically sampled beers and
voted for their favorites. This event
was the climax of a 10-month project to build a trailer with high-tech
treatment processes and then tour the state treating wastewater to drinking water standards and provide this to breweries to make beer for the Arizona Pure Water
Brew Challenge. And while the final tasting competition was a fitting finale to
the project the journey to the finale was certainly the highlight.
The Water
Innovation Challenge was conceived by the Arizona Community Foundation in partnership
with Republic Media and Morrison Institute for Public Policy who host
philanthropic prize competitions to attract innovative ideas. Pima County’s
Southwest Water Campus team was recognized for developing the most innovative
and inventive market-based, technological or entrepreneurial solution to
enhancing the sustainability of its water future. The Southwest Water Campus
team consisted of Pima County Regional Wastewater Reclamation Department,
Tucson Water, Town of Marana, University of Arizona, CH2M, Carollo Engineers,
Clean Water Services and WaterReuse. In addition to the $250,000 grand prize,
the team also received $50,000 in technical assistance from the WaterNowAlliance to advance the implementation of the project which included an
extensive marketing and social media campaign.
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| The AZ Pure Water Brew Challenge Trailer Touring Arizona |
The
treatment in the trailer consisted of Ultrafiltration, Reverse Osmosis,
UV/Advanced Oxidation, GAC and Chlorination. The actual cost of the trailer was
well above $250K, probably around $500K, and could only have happened through
generous donations and at-cost contributions from equipment vendors and
engineering firms. The schedule was also very challenging requiring the trailer
to be designed, built and permitted by the State (remember this was making a
product to be consumed by the public) in about 5 months, essentially building
and permitting a drinking water facility, while allowing time to tour the local
wastewater facilities to treat water so that breweries could brew their beers in time for the Brew Challenge on September 12. Having had a little involvement in the
provision of the membrane equipment, I know it took an amazing team effort
between vendors, the engineering firms and Pima County’s team to pull this off.
The trailer was
not only created to produce purified water for the beer challenge, but was also
used as a PR tool to educate the public on the safety and benefits of
wastewater reuse. Great attention to detail was put into the layout of the
trailer and the educational signage and videos for schools, local
residents, public officials and the media who would tour the facility when it was
stationed at wastewater facilities and beer tasting events. This helped the Project
get a lot of exposure in local newspapers and TV reports.
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| Launch of the Trailer at the AZ Water Conference in May 2017 |
After the
Brew Challenge the trailer even made a trip to Colorado to CH2M’s Englewood Headquarters
for a Reusefest where CH2M clients could taste beer from three local breweries made
from recycled water from the trailer, as well as one CH2M employee brewer who came
up with the clever name ‘I Pee A’.
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| Reusefest at CH2M, Englewood, CO |
The Arizona
Pure Water Brew Challenge was definitely a huge success in helping the public
in Arizona understand how reclaimed water can be used to meet future water
needs and the Award sponsors, the winning team led by Pima County and all the volunteers
who contributed in some way should be congratulated for making this fun
project happen.
Most photos from http://www.azpurewaterbrew.org/.
