Corporations add loop to water cycle

Clear, with only a faint earthy smell, the water in the beaker is clean and ready to be used again.

Like millions of gallons before it, the water has been filtered and treated at a small plant on the grounds of EMC Corp., the data storage company with headquarters in Hopkinton. The water enters the plant as waste from the company's cooling systems and bathrooms, passes through a maze of color-coded pipes and tanks, and is disinfected with ultraviolet light.

While much of this treated water will be discharged back into the ground, a significant portion will be reused on EMC's campus, a conservation initiative that area officials and planners hope will become more common throughout the region.

Faced with finite municipal water supplies, companies across the region have sought ways to soften their impact on the communities where they make their homes. As planners study the long-term potential for growth in the Interstate 495 area, many say water recycling programs such as EMC's -- still relatively rare in Massachusetts -- could be a necessary component in balancing the preservation of the region's natural resources with continued economic development.

''Our growth and development can be limited by environmental resources," said Nancy Bryant, executive director of the SuAsCo Watershed Community Council, a group that promotes the conservation of the Sudbury-Assabet-Concord River watershed.

''To maintain our competitive edge, we have to grow in concert with the resources that are available to us," she added.

Like EMC, Wrentham Village Premium Outlets has its own wastewater treatment plant, designed and operated by Applied Water Management, which runs a similar but larger facility at Gillette Stadium in Foxborough.

The mall, which uses town water, treats all of its wastewater -- as much as 75,000 gallons on a busy weekend day, according to Jeff Marshall, vice president of Applied Water Management -- and reuses half in its toilets. The rest of the treated water is discharged into a nearby leaching field, he said, which helps recharge the local water supply.

Jack Manchester, Wrentham's assistant superintendent of public works, said the mall's treatment plant and recycling program were necessary both because the town does not have a sewer system and because water shortages have led the town to impose a permanent water ban.

Water-conservation measures also can be a benefit to companies: While treatment plants can be expensive to build and operate, company officials say recycling can save businesses the cost of buying additional water. Both EMC and the Wrentham outlets say they have had to buy less water because of their treatment plants.

Most communities in the Interstate 495 corridor are not members of the Massachusetts Water Resources Authority and tap local wells and reservoirs for water. In recent years, explosive residential growth has taxed local supplies, forcing many suburban communities to impose water bans and other restrictions to rein in use.

Some communities, including Wayland and Westborough, have tried raising water rates to encourage conservation.

Last year, the 495/MetroWest Corridor Partnership, a regional economic development group, and the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, a planning organization, received $450,000 in federal money to study the region's water supply and strategies for management and conservation.

Martin Pillsbury, manager of regional planning services for the Metropolitan Area Planning Council, said current water supply shortages are not yet critical enough to stand in the way of development.

But most communities in the 495 region are continuing to grow, he noted, and would be smart to explore ways to use their resources more efficiently to protect them from future crises.

''They're moving in that direction, most of them," he said, ''so it's not too early to start thinking about this."

''There was sort of a business-as-usual way of managing water for many decades," he added.

The study also could look at strategies for reconsidering the use of pavement in development, Pillsbury said. Development not only means increased water use, it typically means more pavement, which can hamper ground water ''recharge," the process of storm water seeping into the ground to replenish supply.

The local efforts mirror the plans of the state Executive Office of Environmental Affairs, which is assembling a water policy task force to study resources and the needs of businesses and residents, said spokeswoman Katie Ford.

The three EMC buildings served by the treatment plant draw about 30 million gallons of water a year from the town of Hopkinton, said EMC spokesman Greg Eden.

EMC currently reuses about 7.5 million gallons of water for flushing toilets (to be recycled as drinking water it would have to pass stringent standards, according to the state Department of Environmental Protection). The company also is looking to expand its recycling efforts to include water used for cooling, an effort it has already undertaken at a manufacturing facility in Franklin.

Eric Carty, Hopkinton's water and sewer superintendent, said EMC is the town's largest water user and said the recycling program ''definitely takes the strain off our system." The town, which draws water from wells and from neighboring Ashland, has had bans on outdoor water use five out of the past six summers, he said.

Microchip maker Intel recycles about 30 percent of the water it uses at its manufacturing plant in Hudson. Water used to rinse chips during manufacturing is treated and used in the company's cooling system, said Ann Hurd, Intel's public affairs manager.

The recycling program dates back to the early 1990s, when the facility was used by Digital, Hurd said, explaining that the company had to recycle some water to meet its permit requirements for discharging into the town's treatment system.

Other towns are paying more attention to the effect of business development on water supply as well. As Shrewsbury moves forward with plans to build a commercial development on 60 acres of land on South Street known as the Allen Farm, Bob Tozeski, the town's water and sewer superintendent, said his department will monitor how much town water the new facility might draw.

''If it was going to be very water-intensive . . . we'd have to take a good look at it," Tozeski said, noting that Shrewsbury has been under state order to decrease its water usage.

EMC has filed a draft environmental notification for a new facility on the Westborough-Southborough line, and because Southborough is served by the MWRA, the company could draw its water from the regional system. Dan Fitzgerald, EMC's vice president for global facilities and real estate, said the company is considering similar water recycling measures at the new plant, which would help reduce its operating costs and ease negotiations with the towns.

''We're going to become part of the community," Fitzgerald said. ''What can we do to help?"

Emily Shartin can be reached at eshartin@globe.com.