Richard Gleeson
Northern News Services

Yellowknife (Apr 08/02) - A new water recycling system cut a Ndilo family's annual water consumption by more than half.

Still in the testing stage, the water conservation technology offers the prospect of some relief from the high cost of water in northern communities.

"We have significant interest in the system, even in Alaska they're waiting to see how this plays out," said Bill Fandrick.

The owner of consultancy Synergy Solutions, Fandrick is overseeing the project for the NWT Housing Corporation.

Flow measurements at the Ndilo family home revealed a total consumption of 208,470 litres from July 2000 to July 2001. Less than half of that, 93,760 litres, was new water. The remainder, used for flushing of toilets and laundry, came from the recycling system in the home's basement.

Systems employing the same biological, chemical-free recycling processes have produced similar results in Iqaluit and Cape Dorset, Nunavut.

Refined and marketed by Toronto-based Creative Communities Research Inc., the system uses a combination of microbial action and filters to remove organic matter from the water. Ozone is then bubbled through the water to disinfect it.

Dollars and sense

In one way the Ndilo home is not an ideal test case for the technology.

Like many Old Town homes, it receives trucked water during the cold months and piped water the rest of the year.

To assess the savings the recycling system would bring to communities that rely exclusively on trucked water, Fandrick used the cost of trucked water in Dettah to calculate how much money the system saved.

By that measure, the recycling system reduced water costs by $8,741 during the year.

At that rate, the $17,000 system would pay for itself in less than two years. That is, if it is used for only one home. But each unit has the capacity to recycle water for up to four or five homes, further reducing the payback.

Fandrick pointed out the cost of trucked water in Dettah, $72.60 per cubic metre, is very high even by Northern standards.

In Gameti, for example, the cost is $49. In Lutsel' Ke it is $25.80.

The territorial government spends $6.5 million annually to subsidize the cost of trucked water. "It doesn't make sense to use it once then throw it out when you pay that much for it," Fandrick said.

Healthy house option

Water recycling is attractive to urban as well as remote communities.

"Healthy homes" in Toronto and Vancouver have used similar technology for almost a decade. Incorporating energy-efficient building design, alternative energy sources such as wind, both homes operate in the heart of urban centres without the use of municipal services.

That is an attractive prospect for cities like Yellowknife, where the cost of laying underground sewage and water pipes and building pumphouses and lift stations accounts for almost half of the price of a building lot.

In the coming weeks, a multidisciplinary design team is hoping to receive final approval to build a healthy house in downtown Yellowknife. If it is built, the home will use the same water recycling technology in use in the Ndilo home.

The city is also interested in the technology. It commissioned the 1998 UMA Engineering study that showed lot prices would drop from $80,000 to $47,000 if homes were linked in clusters to water recycling units rather than underground piped water and sewage.

The city is considering setting aside a lot in its Niven Lake subdivision to further test the viability of housing that is less reliant on conventional systems.

One piece missing

Another two water recycling systems are in place in Dettah homes, but they will not go into operation until another piece in the puzzle is in place.

Fandrick's system uses ozone gas to kill bacteria in used water. If the ozone supply is interrupted, the flow of recycled water automatically shuts down.

Before for certifying the system for general use, the Stanton Regional Health Board wants a second bacteria-killing method incorporated into the recycling process.

Stanton gave the Housing Corporation and Fandrick permission to use the recycling system in the Ndilo house on a trial basis only. Once Stanton gives the green light, the system can be installed in any homes in the NWT.

A company associated with the University of Alberta, MDF Kinetics, is refining new technology Fandrick hopes will become the second barrier. The MDF system uses digitized radio signals to kill bacteria.

It has so far achieved a 94 per cent kill rate. A 99.9 per cent kill rate is required for the system to be certified for general use.

Once that goal is achieved, and Fandrick believes it will be, the only job left will be to convince the public of the merits and safety of using recycled water.

"We're not that far away technologically, but we have quite a ways to go in terms of public perception," he said.