THE IMPORTANCE OF BIOTECHNOLOGY ON AN EFFICIENT WASTEWATER MANAGEMENT

It may seem ironic that on a planet on which 70% of its surface is water, the lack of it is a problem for us. Maybe we are surrounded by water, and that generates the false feeling that it is unlimited, however, we must be aware that humans do not need any type of water, we need quality water. […

When we refer to quality water, we mean water suitable for domestic consumption or for the development of our activities, such as agriculture or industry. We live on a planet that contains 1386 million cubic kilometers of water, an unimaginable amount. Even so, only 2.53% of it is fresh water, and in addition, only 0.15% of fresh water is accessible. This means that only 0.0038% of the earth's water is accessible fresh water. 
We must understand that although water does not disappear from the planet and continues its cycle, we are experiencing a decrease in the percentage of quality water, a decrease caused largely by industrial activity. Industry is the second largest consumer of water in the world, only behind agriculture, and a huge part of its wastewater emissions are returned to the ecosystem plenty of pollutants. Perhaps, years ago it was not a problem for us because the demand for water was lower and we did not see the consequences it would have on the environment. However, the exponential growth of the population implies a greater demand for water, both for domestic use and for the agricultural sector, and forces us to start working on optimizing the consumption of quality water and looking for new ways to preserve it. 
The need to treat industrial wastewater is evident and should be a strict must, but unfortunately only a part of the water emitted by industry is treated properly. The high cost of current treatments supposes a huge economic effort for those companies which are dealing with current regulations on water emissions and leads to others deciding for methods outside the law, assuming that a possible sanction would be equivalent to the expense of the corresponding treatment. Even so, we want to emphasize that in many cases, it is the lack of knowledge of companies about the composition of their pollutants and the current existing methods what raises the costs of their treatments, since it makes them go for conventional methods, such as external treatment plants, when they could go for more specific and efficient methods. 
The first step in a proper water management is to analyze its composition. Each pollutant has a different structure, and it is around this information that we must base ourselves when choosing the type of treatment. Such an important aspect in the process of examining pollutants is to see which of them are organic compounds, focusing on their biodegradability, which makes them easy to eliminate using biological treatments. Non-biodegradable matter needs to be removed with more complex methods involving a great expense, which depends on the oxidizability parameters of the matter contained in the water. In many cases, the use of biological treatments is enough to reach the desired parameters, and if not, the expense of subsequent treatment decreases, increasing the profitability of the company. 
As Amapex, we have been studying and designing biotechnology for years for companies that opt for sustainable and efficient water management. Our biotechnology uses genetically selected bacterial strains that quickly eliminate organic compounds from water, leading to a drastic reduction in water oxidizability parameters, such as COD. In this way, we either reach the required water quality levels or considerably reduce the subsequent cost of purification, generating, in both cases, an increase in profitability. Many of our current customers were not aware of the importance of analyzing in detail the pollutants in their waters and focused only on their oxidizability parameters. Once we have worked together, we have managed to optimize their water treatment systems, adapting to the circumstances of each client and obtaining the best results for the company and the ecosystem. 
We have a long way to go before we achieve a fully sustainable water emission model, but a first step is to incorporate biotechnology into current systems to improve their efficiency and the quality of water returned to the ecosystem.