Jane Shields (Living Water Ecosystems Ltd.)

ECOLOGICAL
TREATMENT SYSTEMS
AN INTEGRATED APPROACH
TO THE TREATMENT OF
WASTE AND WASTE WATER
AT DISTILLERIES
Living Water Ecosystems Ltd

Introduction
Living Water Ecosystems Ltd has been
designing and implementing natural
treatment systems since 1989
This presentation will show how ecological
principles are applied to treatment systems
and how an integrated strategy is achieved

Ecological Principles
In nature there is no waste, because the
waste of one organism is food for another
Inherent in this are the concepts of nutrient
balancing, carrying capacity and completing
& linking cycles with the food web
Complexity and diversity are necessary for
a healthy ecology

Constructed Wetlands
Constructed wetlands utilise symbiotic
relationships found at the soil/water
interface in natural marsh ecosystems
These relationships between bacteria and
other microorganisms, animals and algae
are responsible for most of the world’s
naturally pure water

Wetland Ecology
Our treatment systems incorporate a wide
variety of wetland plants, bacteria, fungi,
invertebrates and algae
We employ complex ecological relationships
to create a ‘food web’ which enables waste
products to be transformed into plant and
animal biomass

Living Water Wetlands:
Combine vertical and horizontal flows
Contain air to maximise oxygen in beds
Discharge effluent at the soil / water
interface - the most active zone
Use an aerobic environment to efficiently
break down high-strength effluents such as
distillery waste

Living Water Wetlands are:
Designed to suit the task
Planted with up to 56 native species of
wetland plant to optimise treatment and
system resilience
Landscaped into the surrounds and
designed to maximise biodiversity

Integrated Strategy
1. Assess how water and waste at the site
can be reduced, eliminated or
transformed into a resource
2. Develop systems for on-site management
and treatment of effluent and solid waste
3. Provide for surface water attenuation,
treatment and recycling/re-use

Integrated Strategy
4. Ecological on-site treatment of the
remaining contaminated water and waste
5. Landscaping to create habitat and
increase biodiversity
6. A degree of flexibility to allow for
expansion and climate change

Surface Water Management
Reduce run-off from site, especially during
storm events
Provide surface water attenuation,
treatment and recycling
Capture and recycle roof water

Glenfiddich Distillery
Discharge is to a salmon river. Ecological
treatment system was designed to:
Polish the effluent discharging from three
distilleries (Glenfiddich, Balvenie and Kininvie)
with particular emphasis on the removal of
copper, suspended solids and BOD
Act as a buffer in extreme cases such as a
major power failure at the effluent plant

Glenfiddich Distillery
System became operational in 2000
Treatment area 980 m 2 , in five beds.
Two new beds and pond added in 2005,
increasing area to 1520 m 2
No mechanical equipment associated with
the operation of the ecological treatment
system, which is gravity-fed. Input needed
from effluent operators is therefore minimal

Glenfiddich Distillery

Glenfiddich: Design Criteria
Ecological treatment system originally
designed to treat 40 m 3 per hour = 960 m 3
per day for a 24 / 7 operation
In 2005 system expanded to treat 50 m 3 per
hour (1200 m3 per day)
System now treats 1200 m 3 /day of effluent
containing ~120 kg of BOD, 144 kg of
suspended solids and 0.9 kg of copper

Glenfiddich: Design Criteria
Copper removal is by direct uptake by the
plants as a micronutrient. It is absorbed
onto the starch in the roots and rhizomes
through ionic bonding
Copper continues to bind to the starch of
the continually growing plant starch and
does not pass into the leaf matter, which
can be safely composted

Glenfiddich Results
The ecological treatment system achieves
overall biological removal efficiencies in
excess of 95%
Treatment system averages 92% reduction
in suspended solids
The effluent has residual copper levels of
less than 0.5 ppm

Glengoyne Distillery
Ecological treatment system designed to remove
copper and nutrients from spent lees, wash waters,
boiler blowdown and sewage. Discharge is to a river
Pot ale separated from spent lees so that anaerobic
digestion of pot ale could be a viable option
Surface water attenuation and SUDS measures
installed to manage run-off from new warehouses
Gravity-fed system (with spent lees pumped)
became operational in May 2011

Glengoyne Distillery
Daily volume entering system is 10.5 m 3 of
spent lees, ~2 m 3 /of wash waters and ~7 m 3
of sewage
With little land available, treatment area of
1239 m 2 is divided into 12 wetland beds: 4
series of 3 beds each. Each series can be
rested in turn
Total number of plants (21 species) for
wetland cells and swale: 13,500

Glengoyne: Design Criteria
Distillery operates 24 hours per day, 7 days
a week for 46 weeks per year, with a new
production batch every 7 hours. Three
batches need to be treated per day
Volume of spent lees =10.30 m3 per day,
i.e. 82.40 m3 in a 7-day production week

Glengoyne Distillery: Design Criteria
Design criteria for the daily loading are
as follows:
BOD 32 kg
TSS 42 kg
FOG 5.5 kg
TDS 37 kg
COD 70 kg
NH4-N 0.033 kg
Total N 0.099 kg
PO4 0.322 kg

Glengoyne Distillery: Results
At an age of only one year, and with its
ecology still evolving, the ecological
treatment system is achieving overall
removal efficiencies in excess of 95% for
all parameters listed in the design criteria

Glengoyne Distillery

Company Contact Details
Jane Shields and David Shields
Directors
Living Water Ecosystems Ltd
Carlingnose Studios
North Queensferry
Fife, KY11 1ER
Scotland, UK
www.livingwater.org.uk
t: +44 (0)1383 415215
m: +44 (0)7932 120516 / 515
e: janes@livingwater.org.uk
e: davids@livingwater.org.uk