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The MBR Book: Principles and Applications of Membrane

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8 <strong>The</strong> <strong>MBR</strong> <strong>Book</strong><br />

wastewater treatment plant classification <strong>and</strong> operator certification <strong>and</strong> on-site<br />

sewage treatment systems, amongst a whole raft <strong>of</strong> other issues.<br />

<strong>The</strong>se are merely examples <strong>of</strong> pertinent legislation since a full review <strong>of</strong> all global<br />

legislation, regulations <strong>and</strong> guidelines is beyond the scope <strong>of</strong> this book. However,<br />

they give some indication <strong>of</strong> the regulatory environment in which <strong>MBR</strong> technology<br />

stakeholders are operating. <strong>The</strong>re is also every reason to suppose that legislation will<br />

become more stringent in the future in response to ever depleting water resources<br />

<strong>and</strong> decreasing freshwater quality.<br />

1.4.2 Incentives <strong>and</strong> funding<br />

Alongside legislative guidelines <strong>and</strong> regulations has been the emergence <strong>of</strong> a number<br />

<strong>of</strong> initiatives to incentivise the use <strong>of</strong> innovative <strong>and</strong> more efficient water technologies<br />

aimed at industrial <strong>and</strong> municipal organisations. <strong>The</strong>se have an important<br />

impact on affordability <strong>and</strong> vary in amounts <strong>and</strong> nature (rebate, subsidy, tax concessions,<br />

etc.) according to national government <strong>and</strong>/or institutional/organisational<br />

policy but are all driven by the need to reduce freshwater dem<strong>and</strong>.<br />

In the UK in 2001, the HM Treasury launched a consultation on the Green Technology<br />

Challenge. <strong>The</strong> Green Technology Challenge is designed to speed up technological<br />

innovation <strong>and</strong> facilitate the diffusion <strong>of</strong> new environmental technologies<br />

into the market place (HM Treasury, 2006). <strong>The</strong> initiative is intended to accompany<br />

tax credits previously available to SMEs to encourage research <strong>and</strong> development <strong>and</strong><br />

to <strong>of</strong>fer further tax relief on investment in environmentally-friendly technologies in<br />

the form <strong>of</strong> enhanced capital allowances (ECAs). Under the system water efficient<br />

technologies (e.g. those delivering environmental improvements such as reductions<br />

in water dem<strong>and</strong>, more sustainable water use <strong>and</strong> improvements in water quality)<br />

are eligible for claiming ECAs. <strong>The</strong> tax incentive allow organisations to write <strong>of</strong>f an<br />

increased proportion <strong>of</strong> its capital spending against its taxable pr<strong>of</strong>it over the period<br />

in which the investment is made. Similar tax incentives are <strong>of</strong>fered to businesses in a<br />

number <strong>of</strong> other countries to encourage investment in environmentally-friendly <strong>and</strong><br />

innovative technologies. In Australia, Canada, Finl<strong>and</strong>, France, the Netherl<strong>and</strong>s <strong>and</strong><br />

Switzerl<strong>and</strong>, this takes the form <strong>of</strong> accelerated depreciation for investment in equipment<br />

aimed at different forms <strong>of</strong> pollution. Denmark <strong>of</strong>fers a subsidy-based scheme<br />

for investments directed towards energy-intensive sectors, <strong>and</strong> Japan also <strong>of</strong>fers the<br />

option <strong>of</strong> a tax credit for the investment: from April 1998 to March 2004, suction<br />

filtration immersed membrane systems for <strong>MBR</strong>s were the object <strong>of</strong> “Taxation <strong>of</strong><br />

Investment Promotion for Energy Supply Structure Reform”, allowing a 7% income<br />

tax deduction for Japanese businesses.<br />

In the USA, state funding is also in place to encourage innovation in new water<br />

technology. <strong>The</strong> Clean Water State Revolving Fund (CWSRF) (which replaced the<br />

Construction Grants scheme <strong>and</strong> which is administered by the Office <strong>of</strong> Wastewater<br />

Management at the US Environmental Protection Agency) is the largest water quality<br />

funding source, focused on funding wastewater treatment systems, non-point<br />

source projects <strong>and</strong> watershed protection (USEPA, 2006c). <strong>The</strong> programme provides<br />

funding for the construction <strong>of</strong> municipal wastewater facilities <strong>and</strong> implementation

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