WC132 SeptOct 2023 - Magazine - Page 9
Derek Davy, CEO,
Econse, and Matt
Gi昀昀en, founder of
Bench Brewing
Company.
preserving and protecting the invaluable resources we have been
entrusted with.”
The brewery’s location on a rural property, while idyllic, poses
numerous operational challenges—especially as a water-intensive
business. They are not connected to municipal sewers and the
high volume of industrial effluent from the brewing process is
many times too high in organics, nutrients, solids, and pH to
enter traditional septic systems or to discharge directly into the
environment. Rather than hauling water to a municipal wastewater treatment facility, which can be environmentally unfriendly
and a burden to already overloaded municipal infrastructure,
Bench sought out a sustainable solution that aligned with their
ethos.
And that solution? Econse Water Technologies.
“Climate change,
wastewater,
and economic
development are not
often thought of in
the same sentence,
but this crossroad has
been our niche. We
try to bring change by
o昀昀ering innovation to
legacy issues facing
our society.”
- Derek Davy, Econse
Zero-waste wastewater
An alternative to traditional wastewater treatment technology,
Econse Water Technologies builds scalable wastewater solutions
for businesses to stop water pollution on-site. Effluent is treated
to a level that is suitable for non-potable reuse or discharge depending on their location, allowing businesses to expand without
expanding their environmental impact.
When Bench first approached Econse about their project,
it became clear that the best solution would be to treat their
wastewater for non-potable reuse. The challenge for Econse was
to provide a compact, modular solution that preserved valuable
agricultural land, avoided direct discharge, and respected the
region’s phosphorus sensitivity and limited subsurface discharge
capacity.
“Climate change, wastewater, and economic development are
not often thought of in the same sentence, but this crossroad has
been our niche. We try to bring change by offering innovation
to legacy issues facing our society,” says Derek Davy, CEO of
Econse. “By making our solutions affordable and easy to adopt,
businesses can do the right thing and be the change in their
community.”
Traditional wastewater treatment technology often comes at a
high cost, with operational complexity, and a massive footprint,
many times too large for most small- or mid-sized businesses to
accommodate. Econse’s modular systems, however, are easy to
install and operate, fit inside a treatment room or building, and
can process effluent and recover organic solids and nutrients for
beneficial reuse.
This compact system, composed of an equalization vessel and
processing tanks, captures and treats waste streams in real time.
It collects solid waste, including grains and yeast, for off-site
disposal.
Econse supports craft breweries by blending industry-specific
waste management education with the necessary equipment to
capture, treat, and manage brewing process wastewater.
WAT E R C A N A D A . N E T
WATER C AN ADA • SEP TEMBER/OC TOBER 2023
9
