Country faces water quality issues

Water shortage is not a problem of only arid or third-world countries, says Craig Hobkirk, regional executive for Central and Eastern Europe (CEE) at GE Water and Process Technologies in Prague. As populations grow in Central Europe, water treatment and infrastructure will become a greater issue, and Hobkirk says companies like GE also have a responsibility to lend aid in the form of water-treatment technologies to countries such as Haiti, which has faced a shortage of clean water since January's earthquake. Hobkirk recently sat down with The Prague Post to discuss the importance of improving water treatment in the Czech Republic.

The Prague Post: Water shortage would seem to concern mostly African and Middle Eastern countries. Why should companies and individuals in the Czech Republic be concerned about water shortage?

Craig Hobkirk: When you talk about water scarcity, it's correct for people to think of Africa and the Middle East, but water conservation is not just about droughts. It's about having a suitable water supply for people to drink, and that's an issue throughout Central Europe. In Romania, 30 percent of the population has no piped sewage or drinking water. In the Czech Republic, the issue is not water scarcity, but water quality in the right areas, both for industrial and public use. Because of the limited supply of water and the growing population, we are going to run out of clean water. The current technology in place in the Czech Republic is not capable of recycling or reusing water to the extent that will be necessary.

TPP: Is unclean water a significant problem in the Czech Republic?

CH: As far as I know, the water in the Czech Republic meets all EU standards. It's very easy to take water from the Vltava, for example, and make it clean enough to drink. But the issue in the future will be different. There will be basic EU requirements for water reuse that will dramatically affect the Czech Republic. Compared with the world leader for water reuse, Israel, which uses about 75 percent recycled water, I would guess the Czech Republic has about 10 percent.

TPP: How large an investment will the Czech Republic need to bring the country to the proper level of water treatment and reuse?

CH: Nearly half of the drinking water in the Czech Republic is lost during distribution, and that needs to be lessened. I don't have an intimate knowledge of all the plants in the Czech Republic, but most of the treatment plants here have not had any dramatic investment in technology in 10 to 15 years. We're talking millions of dollars per plant, and every major city has 10 or 15 plants.

TPP: Besides capital, what hurdles face the Czech Republic as it updates its water treatment technology?

CH: To get to the place where we're meeting needs of 2030 and beyond, serious investment needs to be made in water conservation. The industry and the government need to push water recycling and water reuse, and not just because it's something that would be nice to have. In reality, every process, including the production of oil, is driven by water. We say oil is the driver of the economy, but, in some ways, you could say water is the true driver.

TPP: How was business affected by the financial crisis, which significantly affected many CEE economies where GE is based, such as Hungary and Poland?

CH: In my experience in the industrial sector, the steel industry is one key barometer of the economy. And 2009 was a disaster for the steel industry. And, since the majority of GE's water business is industrial, there was a following effect. I'm optimistic things will return in the course of 2010. We're going to see some closures, but the strong companies will be able to cope with an extended downturn.

TPP: How does GE split its focus between public drinking water and water treatment for industrial use?

CH: Our core business is making sure that industrial companies - in Ostrava, for example - reuse and manage their water as efficiently as possible. On the other side of GE's industrial business, we work with micro-electronics, food and beverage and pharmaceutical companies that very critically need pure water to make their product.

We do, however, have a significant drinking and waste-water business. Today, we have the technology to take sewage of any quality and turn it into drinking water that will meet all standards. That's what we call "toilet to tap." Actually, we have houses we've designed that have 0 percent discharge - that is, all the water is recycled. That's the future.

TPP: In terms of EU directives for clean water, which look ahead only 20 or 30 years, why not install technology to set treatment forward 200 years?

CH: That would be nice, but the reality is that such projects cost money. The focus now is to get countries up to basic standards, and the next step is to limit water loss. We now have the technology to take water from any source - from coal mine water to sewage - and make highly pure water. But it costs money.

TPP: The earthquake in Haiti has brought the importance of drinking water to headlines. What responsibility do water companies have to provide technology where water is scarce?

CH: We have a responsibility and a duty. The reality is we do have the technology to help places like Haiti, and GE sees it as a fundamental duty to do so. GE has committed about $2.5 million to Haiti, the vast majority of which is for water. We've supplied solar-powered water-purification units that are now in use. There is a cost to such intervention, but there are also huge benefits, and not just because it makes you feel good, but because you actually learn things. Our solar units are a new technology, and now we know how quickly we can deploy them. But, in the end, you've got to be part of a company that wants to invest and help.

Stephan Delbos can be reached at
sdelbos@praguepost.com