From Sanitation to Irrigation
One-third of Peru's population works in the agriculture industry, and ITT wastewater treatment systems can provide them with more water for their crops.
With ITT treatment systems, more wastewater is now available for crop irrigation in Latin America.
If the world's supply of clean water continues to shrink, there will be less to drink — and less to eat. More than half of all fresh water usage is dedicated to irrigation, and a prolonged global water crisis could slow the flow of crops to our stores and tables.
ITT is aiding farmers with advanced technologies that turn wastewater into clean, safe water for irrigation. These wastewater treatment systems are already in place throughout Europe and the United States and now are starting to bring much needed water to the fields of Latin America.
As water standards grow more stringent in Central and South America, wastewater plants must upgrade their operations, and many facilities see this as an opportunity to responsibly return water to the community. Up to now, most plants used standard treatment processes to produce water that could irrigate taller crops like grain and corn, but wasn't clean enough for low-growing crops that are touched directly by the water.
"Towns and cities in Latin America want to use wastewater to irrigate a wider variety of crops — and relieve pressure from their precious fresh water supplies," says Tony Callery, treatment business development manager of Latin America Operations for ITT's Water and Wastewater business.
ITT leads the irrigation solution with its Flygt, Sanitaire, Leopold and WEDECO brand products. In February 2009, SEVERAL, the leading water authority in Lima, Peru, initiated construction of its first-ever tertiary wastewater station in the Manchay district. ITT biological and filtration systems perform the "tertiary" function, processing wastewater to the highest possible quality suitable for all crop irrigation. This Lima-based plant is also designed to remove dangerous, disinfection-resistant parasites like the Helminth Ova.
The Manchay plant will safely irrigate nearly 1,000 acres of farmland a day at its full capacity. In addition, the ITT biological treatment process will produce nearly 1,000 pounds a day of stabilized biosolids, which will be used as landfill cover and fertilizer.
The economy and the people of Peru depend on locally produced agricultural products for internal consumption and export revenues. One-third of the nation's population works in the agriculture industry. It's like that in many Latin American nations, and ITT wastewater treatment systems can help them keep their crops and countries growing.
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