Organisational Decision-Making in Water Reuse for Smart Cities (SMART-WaterDomain). Case Study Report. Water as a strategic resource

Abstract

Water quality and industrialization are two aspects that are closely interrelated and continuously co-dependent. Especially in areas with intense industrial activity, water quality and availability can be heavily affected by the companies' water and wastewater management policies. Water reuse can, therefore, offer a circular economy solution to sustainable industrial activities, promoting water use reduction and alleviating water pollution and its subsequent effects on the environment. The SMART-WaterDomain Project’s main objective is to provide a framework for organizational decision-making processes for companies and utilities to facilitate the uptake of water reuse practices in their operations. To meet this aim, the project partner countries have prepared this report, showcasing the different business models for water reuse in industries in the project's participating countries. Since May 2020, the Project partners, under the guidance of the partners in TUD, prepared and distributed an online survey targeting industries in the most water-intensive sectors in each country, resulting in 83 responses from 5 countries. The outcome of the survey conducted under Work Package 2 (WP2) highlighted the variation in the level of acceptance for water reuse applications in different countries and contexts. Stakeholder perceptions, national policies related to water pricing and governance, water availability, and the level of necessary water quality affect companies' decision-making on water management and the business model they adopt. It is, therefore, important to understand the locality of the factors to the geographical and sectorial characteristics of industries. This report provides a synthesis of the case studies in Germany and Poland and summarizes the outcomes of the analysis. The report's main objective is to provide an overview of the various organizational structures and decision-making processes in industries regarding water management and sustainability and propose business models incorporating smart and sustainable water management practices. Different aspects of water and wastewater management are reported and compared from the most water-intensive sectors in each country, namely Chemical, Pulp and Paper, and Energy production for Germany, and Chemical, Food and Beverages, Oil, Gas and Mining, and Water and Wastewater for Poland. The case study structure and strategy were developed under WP5 by the University of Lodz, Faculty of Management in collaboration with all the partners of the Project. The Project partners proceeded to select the case studies based on two criteria: the water consumption intensity of the sectors in their respective countries and the potential impact of the industrial applications on the quality of the water bodies. Data from secondary sources and primary data from private and public stakeholders were used to analyse the case study. This report is structured per country. Sections 2, 3 and 4 present the German context and case studies, while Sections 5, 6 and 7 present the Polish one, respectively. Each case study represents a specific sector in a country and follows the same structure. Section 8 presents the report's summary and provides recommendations for future steps.