While it’s not the first time it’s been done, Epic OneWater
Brew is the
latest and perhaps the highest-profile attempt at using treated greywater to
make something potable — in this case, beer.
The effort used an intensive filtering and disinfection process to purify 2,000
gallons of water from a San Francisco high-rise to create a “blank slate,”
drinking-water-quality product. From there, Epic
Cleantec — whose OneWater onsite
water-recycling system made Time’s Best Inventions of 2022
list
— physically moved that water via totes and trucks to Devil’s Canyon Brewing
Co in nearby San Carlos, where brewery
owner Chris Garrett and his team
created a Kolsch from the liquid.
“It ended up being a really great product,” Garrett told Sustainable
Brands®.
What makes this version of a recycled-water beer different is the sourcing.
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“What’s interesting about Epic is that this is the first example of using water
that’s come out of an onsite recycling system,” says Travis
Loop, producer and host of water-related media outlet
Waterloop (Loop is also a lead organizer of
the Pure Water Brewing Alliance,
which advocates for responsible water use and reuse in the beer business.).
The process works like this: First, greywater from residential building Fifteen
Fifty
(which recycles up to 7,500 gallons of water per day, or up to 2.75 million
gallons per year) is collected from laundry and showers. Then, it’s treated
through Epic’s combination of ultra-filtration (filtering out impurities to the
diameter of a human hair follicle), disinfection with ultraviolet light and
chlorine, and a granulated activated-carbon (GAC) filter (for reduced mineral
content), and typically reused for toilet and urinal flushing within the
building. Scientifically speaking, the recycled water is treated to an extremely
high level of purity that meets (or even exceeds) federal drinking-water quality
standards.
But for this project, 2,000 gallons of that treated water was toted about 30
minutes south on the peninsula for the beer collaboration.
“Typically, a project like this has only been done through a utility,” says Epic
Cleantec CEO and co-founder, Aaron
Tartakovsky. “Brewers have so
much knowledge about water chemistry; so, we wanted to find a contract brewer
who would be interested.”
The final result was 7,000 16-oz cans of beer — not available for commercial
sale but distributed to an array of water professionals and beer fans, along
with a cameo at the recent UN 2023 Water
Conference in New York City.
A rep from Epic says the beer “really made the rounds at the conference” and
“several breweries reached out to learn more about collaborating.”
Drawing attention to a larger issue
Of course, the goal of a collaboration like this is to highlight water
conservation in a part of the water cycle many don’t really think about.
“We’re a ‘flush and forget’ society,” Tartakovsky says.
US wastewater-treatment facilities process approximately 34 million gallons
of water
daily;
so, there’s seemingly unlimited potential to find new ways to reuse the water
that simply goes down a drain.
These brewery/treated-water
collaborations
have been somewhat of a forefront for the conversation/reuse conversation, with
Loop noting at least 100 brewers (both home and professional) who have produced
a similar beer to OneWater Brew over the last decade.
“(These beers) are a great public-awareness tool,” he says.
The state of Colorado was a recent example of the movement gaining steam as
the latest state to legalize the use of direct potable reuse (DPR)
water
with Florida, Arizona and California also looking into similar
measures. The goal is to help water customers get over any preconceived notions
of treated wastewater and redirect it for potable uses.
Everyone involved hopes that the more these collaborations occur, the more they
can get people talking about water.
“We should judge water by its quality, not its history,” Loop says.
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Geoff is a freelance journalist and copywriter focused on making the world a better place through compelling copy. He covers everything from apparel to travel while helping brands worldwide craft their messaging. In addition to Sustainable Brands, he's currently a contributor at Penta, AskMen.com, Field Mag and many others. You can check out more of his work at geoffnudelman.com.
Published Mar 31, 2023 2pm EDT / 11am PDT / 7pm BST / 8pm CEST