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Valley Forward’s Water Efficiency Leaders program is designed to showcase how business and industry are demonstrating innovation in managing water resources
Holsum Bakery in Tolleson was named the Valley Forward’s inaugural Water Efficiency Leader, earning the title for integrating more sustainable processes into its entire operation.
Holsum Bakery has instituted a culture of sustainability. Progress toward achieving sustainability goals is tracked by management with a Sustainability Index. Water is a big component of a bakery’s inputs. It is not only used as an ingredient in the bread, but it also is used extensively to clean the bread-making equipment. A list of the major water efficient practices implemented is below:
- Converting water-intensive sanitation practices to processes using much less water.
o Increasing the use of brooms and brushes in the place of water hoses to clean equipment and
work areas.
- Setting goals each year for the bakery to reduce water usage per pound of production and in absolute gallons.
o Installing secondary water meters to monitor usage at key process points, such as ingredient
water, cooling towers and swamp coolers.
- Optimizing irrigation of desert landscaping, reducing water usage by 57 percent in the summer months and saving an estimated 155,000 gallons of water annually.
- Installing waterless urinals, saving 40,000 gallons annually, and basket washer controls have been modified to ensure minimal water usage.
- These measures are making a difference.
o Through July of this year, Holsum’s improvement in usage rate has saved the equivalent of
613,997 gallons of water over 2008, despite an increase in bread production of 4.1 percent.
o Water flows to the sewer have been reduced by nearly 40%.
o Solid waste in the first nine periods of 2009 has been reduced to 60 tons, down from 90 tons in 2008.
Next year Holsum plans to install a system to capture runoff water from cooling towers and swamp coolers to replace incoming water used for landscape irrigation.
In addition to reducing water usage, Holsum Bakery participates annually in meetings with other regional bakeries to share best practices. And, through Holsum’s “Helping Hands” program, all Holsum associates are encouraged to bring in their newsprint, cardboard, aluminum cans, plastic bottles, and telephone books for recycling. All monies generated by recycling these materials are then distributed by the team to needy families - $19,000 has been generated from this program.
Established in 1881, the Holsum Bakery has been a family-owned business with two bakeries in the Phoenix area, employing 580 people. In August of 2008, Holsum Bakery merged with Flowers Foods, Inc.
In addition to bestowing top honors on Holsum Bakery, Valley Forward has recognized Intel Corporation and CityCenter of CityNorth for exceeding water efficiency standards.
Progressive Water Management in Arizona
Over the past decade, Intel has worked with the City of Chandler, Arizona to implement a progressive water management system that reduces the use of water by millions of gallons each day—and has lowered Intel Arizona’s daily water demand by up to 75%. Intel has been recognized by the U.S. EPA for its efforts, receiving the Water Efficiency Leader Award in 2007.
Intel has achieved water conservation through the following actions:
- Aquifer Recharge: Using reverse osmosis (RO) technologies, the wastewater from Intel’s fabs in Chandler is treated to drinking water standards and then recharged to the underground aquifer to replenish the groundwater supply. Since 1996, this water conservation strategy has put over 3.5 billion gallons of water back into the aquifer. The strategy supports a key Chandler effort to store water in the underground aquifer to assure that the needs of local citizens and businesses are met for many years to come, even if dry weather patterns worsen.
- Reclaim: Over the past decade, Intel has used more than 4.5 billion gallons of treated wastewater from Chandler’s Ocotillo Water Reclamation Facility instead of tapping into potable water supplies. Every day, millions of gallons of processed wastewater are used to run cooling towers and air-abatement equipment, support landscaping, and irrigate farms near the site.
- Recycle: Using advanced technologies such as RO and a brine evaporation system, Fab 22 in Chandler operates one of Intel’s most efficient UPW treatment facilities, producing roughly 0.85 gallons of UPW per gallon of city water—saving millions of gallons of water each year compared to other purification processes
Intel has three chip fabrication plants at the Ocotillo campus in Chandler, including a 300-millimeter wafer plant that opened in 2007. Approximately 4,300 workers are employed at Intel’s Ocotillo campus. Intel began funding the Chandler Reverse Osmosis Plant in 1995.
Investments in water-reuse payoff in new large-scale mixed use development
CityCenter of CityNorth was envisioned as being a pioneer in large scale sustainable design. From the project’s inception, the development team wanted to ensure that the vision of responsible growth was maintained and implemented into all facets of the site including the landscape and irrigation system. Examples of water-saving measures are below:
- Restroom fixtures save more than 8.2 million gallons of water annually.
- Landscaping that features native plants maintained by a water-efficient drip irrigation system using only recycled water generated on-site and reducing the need for irrigation during summer months by up to 10,000 gallons a day.
- A grey water system that features a 20,000-gallon underground tank for recycled water, saving more than 4 million gallons of water annually and dramatically reducing the burden to the municipal water treatment facility.
CityCenter is the 76-acre mixed-use portion of CityNorth development of Desert Ridge.
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