ABSTRACT

This chapter explores the relationship between groundwater usage for the food-processing industry and small water systems as part of a water conservation project in the Andes of South America. Water conservation and water quality management has been a low priority in most industrial facilities. Based on conversations with environmental and industry leaders in the Andean region, demand for water reduction services is on the rise. This demand is most likely the result of several localized factors, including the allocation of costs to previously free and unlimited supplies of clean water resources. Sustainable attention to improving efficiencies in water consumption will hinge upon resource pricing and other policies in the Andean countries. Policies that induce real pricing of clean water resources, allocate scarce water resources (both above and below ground), and encourage the reuse and recycling of process waters will contribute to long-term focus of industrial water usage as a basic economic consideration.