Episode 059 | June 5, 2023 | 19:00
Guest: —
Published: June 5, 2023
Duration: 22:09
Description
In this episode of the Sustainable Healthcare Podcast, host Frederik van Deurs interviews Simon Husum about water reclamation and reuse in the healthcare industry. They discuss the increasing focus on water conservation, the challenges of implementing water reuse systems, and the potential impact on cost savings. The conversation also touches on the connection between water reuse and sustainability, as well as the role of regulators in promoting water reclamation. Listen to gain insights into the importance of water reuse i
Full transcript
About this transcript
This transcript was automatically generated and may contain inaccuracies, typos, or mistranslations. Episodes recorded before 2024 were transcribed by an on-site model and may have a higher error rate. The content reflects the original conversation to the best of our ability. For the authoritative version, please listen to the audio episode.
Hello and welcome to the Sustainable Healthcare Podcast. This episode I’m having a conversation with Simon Husum about water reclamation. So water reclamation has been in our spotlight at Green Innovation Group for a little while now. Water reclamation is the process of reclaiming the water from a wastewater plant for example or from a hospital, sometimes from a private setting. So Simon is currently a co-founder of a startup called Pondiplus. They are aiming to make a complete biodynamic chamber that can both clean the wastewater that comes from say the fish farms but it also doubles as a fertilizer for plants. It’s interesting on a number of dimensions; we will only really focus on water reclamation in this episode but I think you will find inspiration in it. Welcome to the show Simon, it’s great to have you on the show today. We’re going to dive into water reclamation, both as a concept and a bit of practical examples on how it can play out in healthcare. So if we start out, can you tell our listeners a bit more about how you ended up working with water? I have a background in biotechnology and through my master thesis I worked with biotechnological engineers, working with bacteria in a wastewater plant. We add chemicals to make phosphorus cling stick together so we can filter it out. Even if you take dirty water from a wastewater plant and you boil it down, you actually have everything you need for a plant to grow. So we started looking at our own systems. From dirty water you can actually have a fertilizer. With our system we get cleaner water out and we get a fertilizer. We’re operating in a fish farm setting and looking into the wastewater plant setting where it could be deployed at a healthcare facility or in production. The connection to sustainability is that we don’t have unlimited water. By reusing water we can save energy. The cost of water in some places is going up significantly. Healthcare is a heavy water user — labs, sterilization, cleaning. Reuse could have a big impact. Regulators are starting to push for water reuse. The challenges include the regulatory landscape and the upfront capital cost. Thanks for the conversation Simon and thanks for listening everyone.