Sustainable water use and reuse requires robust microbial control

With increasing global water scarcity, water use and reuse has faced increased scrutiny. In many cases, water for industrial processes such as cooling is being sourced from other waste water streams, which may be of lower quality than water used in the past. Lower water quality often contains higher levels of dissolved organics, suspended solids, and salts compared to higher quality waters. These features can produce environments where microorganisms thrive, and this can lead to microbiologically influenced corrosion (MIC). To prevent MIC and efficiency losses in industrial processes, it is key to control microorganisms. This paper will discuss ways of controlling microbial growth in industrial process waters with increasingly lower quality make up water.