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O P I N I O N
It’s all about water
Reducing consumption and finding new ways to re-use water will become increasingly important as populations grow.
I n Reno, as in other parts of the world, water will continue to be a problem as our population expands. Reno is especially challenged because it is in a high desert with a very dry climate, so evaporation is very high. As we approached development of the West 2 nd District, we were determined to be leaders in sustainability. So, from the early stages of planning, we focused on using less water.
Ed Friedrichs
significantly reduce the project’s sewer charges. This will be good for people living and working here, but will be even better for the environment. “The recycled water will be ‘gray’ water, not potable. If a person drank it, it wouldn’t make them sick. It just wouldn’t taste very good. We’ll be able to use gray water for landscape irrigation, to keep our cooling towers filled and to flush our toilets.”
Our initial thrust was to recycle the water we used. We explored several systems and began working with Tom Puttman (whom I knew from Portland, Oregon) to develop a water recycling system. Tom is the founder of Puttman Infrastructure which designs, builds, owns, and operates on-site sewage treatment plants that also recover water. We’ll be creating a treatment plant in our project that will reduce water consumption by 50 percent, compared to connecting each building to the local water supply and the waste to the city of Reno’s sewer system. The net effect will be quite dramatic. Not only will we reduce the water charged to the West 2 nd District residents by half, but we will also
See ED FRIEDRICHS, page 12
THE ZWEIG LETTER June 18, 2018, ISSUE 1253
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