The Value of Current Knowledge –A Case Study of the Forest Products

Industry Water Profile

Canadian Water Summit

June 17, 2010 (Toronto, ON)

Kirsten Vice

Vice President, NCASI

ncasi

Motivation• Access to water

increasingly controlled

• FPI large user of fresh water

• Information gaps for stakeholders

• Water Profiles provide holistic overview of interconnections between water resources and forest products industry operations

Elements of Water Profile • Forest and Forest Management

• P&P and WP Manufacturing

• Effects of Effluents

on the Ecology of Surface Waters

Canadian Industry Water

Profile

Forest and Forest Management• Forest and Forest Management The Challenge: to estimate the

relationship between forest

management areas and water

resources (precipitation and

hydrology) across a vast landscape.

Forest and Forest ManagementTriton Brook (2005)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

200

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Month

mm

Runoff

Precipitation

Catamaran Brook (1999)

0

50

100

150

200

250

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Month

mm

Runoff

Precipitation

Hayward Brook (1996)

0

50

100

150

200

250

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Month

mm

Runoff

Precipitation

REVEW (2000)

0

50

100

150

200

250

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Month

mm

Runoff

Precipitation

Experimental Lakes (1975)

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Month

mm

Runoff

Precipitation

Upper Penticton (2000)

0

50

100

150

200

250

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Month

mm

Runoff

Precipitation

Malcolm Knapp Research Forest (2000)

0

50

100

150

200

250

300

350

400

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Month

mm

Runoff

Precipitation

Carnation Creek (1998)

0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Month

mm

Runoff

Precipitation

Stuart-Takla (2000)

0

50

100

150

200

250

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Monthm

m

Runoff

Precipitation

Forest Management ElementsPrecipitation – all water that

enters the system not lost to

immediate evaporation

- Rainfall

Forest Management ElementsPrecipitation – all water that

enters the system not lost to

immediate evaporation.

- Rainfall

- Fog interception

Forest Management ElementsPrecipitation – all water that

enters the system not lost to

immediate evaporation.

- Rainfall

- Fog interception

- Snow (and melt)

Forest Management ElementsPrecipitation – all water that

enters the system not lost to

immediate evaporation.

- Rainfall

- Fog interception

- Snow (and melt)

Runoff – all water that

leaves the system via surface

or subsurface flow

Assumes constant

water-table

Forest Management ElementsPrecipitation – all water that

enters the system not lost to

immediate evaporation.

- Rainfall

- Fog interception

- Snow (and melt)

Runoff – all water that

leaves the system via surface

or subsurface flow.

AET

Annual Evapotranspiration –

calculated by subtracting

runoff from total precipitation

AET = Precipitation - Runoff

Forest and Forest ManagementAssumptions:

an ecozone-based approach

• Majority (>98%) of forestry occurs in nine ecozones (probably)

• Forested areas are unequally distributed among ecozones (true)

• Forestry operations are equally distributed among forested areas within ecozones (untrue –Boreal Shield has ~50% of forestry operations)

• Mean precipitation levels can be estimated across entire ecozones (??)

Forest and Forest Management

Element Million m3

Precipitation on managed forest areas

1 350 000

Runoff from managed forest areas

670 000

Evapotranspiration 680 000

Manufacturing Element: Concepts

• Water consumption:Portion of water removed from a water

source that is not immediately returned to

the water source (e.g., evaporative losses)

Wate

r Sou

rce

Water Intake

(WI)

Manufacturing

Final

Effluent (FE)

Water in Final

Product

(WFP)

Water in

Residuals

(WR)

Water in Raw

Materials (WRM)

Water in Purchased

Chemicals (WCH)

Water Evaporated (WE)

• Water use: Total amount of water used for process and cooling

needs

Approach

• Pulp & Paper – Perform mass balance calculations

on a mill-by-mill basis

• Ideally: Generate independent estimates of water

imports and exports (lack of data).

• Pragmatically: Use available data and estimated data to

estimate water withdrawals. This requires the use of an

iterative calculation procedure for closing the water

balance.

• Wood Products – Undertake typical wood mass

balances per wood product sub-category and

typical moisture contents

• Reasonable: Water use is <1% of that at P&P facilities

Water Profile for Manufacturing (2007)(million m3 per year)

Non-fiberRaw Material

Forests

water in wood

ManufacturingProducts

to surfacewater cycle

to groundwater cycle

evaporation

other waterinputs

recycle

evaporation

water inproducts

disposalwater insolid residuals

groundwater

surfacewater

131.9

2.34

14.834.661,793.9 0 231.5

19.89

1.74

31.8

1,882

2.47

Wood products recovered

0.84

• 87.5% water inputs are

returned to surface water

cycle

• 11.2% water inputs

are evaporated

• 1.3% water inputs

are imparted to

residuals and

product

• 93.4% water

inputs is from

surface and

ground water

Water Profile for the Canadian Industry (2007)(million m3 per year)

Non-fiberRaw Material

Forests

precipitation

evapotranspiration

surface water runoff andgroundwater recharge

water in wood

Manufacturing

Products

to surfacewater cycle

to groundwater cycle

evaporation

other waterinputs

recycle

evaporation

water inproducts

disposalwater insolid residuals

water resource cycle

groundwater

surfacewater

131.9

2.34

14.834.661,793.9 0 231.5

19.89

1.74

31.8

1,882

1,350,000

2.47

670,000

680,000

Wood products recovered

0.84

• FPI water use ~

0.3% of total

stream flow

produced by

managed forests

The Value of Current Knowledge –Opportunities and Limitations

• Breadth of forestry across Canada necessitates assumptions

– Local or regional estimates will always be more accurate

• Water consumption only roughly 10% of water use for P&P manufacturing

– Site-specific calculations optimal

– Process-specific knowledge required

– Balance can be struck between measurement devices & engineering estimation