Best available techniques as a sustainability tool for industrial water management and treatment

The past few decades have been characterized by industry's increasingly intense concern for the environment. While government agencies mandate stricter limits on wastewater discharge, companies struggle to brand themselves as 'greener' and more sustainable than their competition. As a result, industrial wastewater management strategies have focused on treatment methods that are both economical and environmentally sustainable. Specification of Best Available Techniques (BATs) can help industries, decision-makers, and regulators address these concerns by highlighting technological solutions that provide both highly treated effluent for discharge and high quality water for reuse. EU member states are requested to use BATs as reference points to attain environmental quality objectives and establish environmental permit conditions for large industrial installations. These European BATs are defined by 'BAT Reference documents' (BREFs) prepared by Technical Working Groups organized in compliance with the Industrial Emissions Directive (IED) (2010/75/EU) and including a variety of stakeholders such as regulators, industrial companies, and environmental non-governmental organizations (NGOs). As listed in Table 32.1, EU BREFs address a comprehensive range of environmental issues in a variety of industries including emissions in air, land, and water (http://eippcb.jrc.ec.europa.eu/reference).