'Water University' Teaching Corporate Students Water Conservation

A “Water University,” was recently created to train thousands of corporate customers and employees on ways to dramatically cut water use by 2020, according to an article on the Star Tribune website.

The school, in Naperville, Ill., is home to 200 scientists who share conservation solutions.

Global water demand is expected to exceed supplies by 40 percent by the year 2030. And, according to a recent study by Ecolab and the GreenBiz Group, large corporations are not using advanced tools available to manage water use.

The training center, opened by EcoLab, is expected to train more than 2,200 people each year.

So far, Cargill and Exelon have enrolled several employees for training that begins later in November.

“As a society, we don’t measure and monitor our water impact very well. The reality is that when you [measure] the monetary impact of water scarcity, that means a company can do something about it,” Kate Brauman, lead scientist for the Global Water Initiative at the University of Minnesota’s Institute on the Environment, said in the article.

Droughts and dirty water problems are increasing. Farmers, city planners and multinational manufacturers are studying what more can be done to conserve water, Brauman said.

The training center will offer courses from one week to six months. Some programs will explore industry-specific technologies. Others will teach students to use a range of equipment focusing on water usage, infection prevention, system controls, energy loads and improving work flows.

The curriculum will use a mix of classroom instruction, equipment training, computer analysis and 3-D interactive teaching tools.

Read the full article here.