From: Scott Keen
Columbus
The Ninth Avenue Foods facility coming to Columbus is good news with a positive impact on the local and regional economy. The progressive, pro-business reputation of Columbus was certainly instrumental in that company’s decision.
But there is another important reason they are coming here: water.
According to the April 22 Republic:
“One of key factors in bringing the project to Columbus was the availability of water and wastewater services offered by Columbus City Utilities…
“’We use a lot of water in some of those plant-based products, but also… do a lot of cleaning,’ (VP of Operations) Lunzer said. ‘…we use some steam… (but) aren’t able to recycle as much condensate as a traditional boiler. So that ends up in the waste stream, and so there’s a high level of flow…
“That part of it eliminates some (potential) sites. They just don’t have that kind of capacity.’”
Columbus is incredibly fortunate to have a highly productive, high-quality groundwater aquifer to supply our community. However, many parts of this country do not have a reliable water supply, and climate change is rapidly making that worse.
Ninth Avenue Foods is currently located in Los Angeles where scarce water is expensive, and California has issued a drought warning for 2021. As water-intensive industries in these water-scarce areas experience production-limiting water shortages and increased costs, they will be attracted to cities like Columbus, where water is still inexpensive and plentiful.
But how many other similar companies could our groundwater supply sustain? Can our WWTP handle large dilute wastewater discharges? More irrigation systems are appearing in local fields, pumping lots of groundwater too. How many of them can our aquifer handle sustainably? What is the “true value” of our water and how do we protect is as a resource? How do we get our arms around this?
Some communities use a sustainability plan. UCLA defines sustainability as: “the integration of environmental health, social equity and economic vitality in order to create thriving, healthy, diverse and resilient communities for this generation and generations to come."
A comprehensive environmental sustainability plan could guide the city’s future industrial growth strategy, providing a mechanism to weigh “big picture” benefits and risks and guide decisions. It also allows consistent environmental plans and strategies to be established prior to and independently of the pressures associated with siting each new industry individually. It would cover wetlands protection, water extraction and conservation, wastewater management, energy efficiency, waste minimization, landfill life extension and more.
Columbus is already a forward-looking city with many long-term strategies. I would encourage the city to establish an environmental sustainability plan with specific goals and policies that ensure our limited, valuable natural resources are consumed prudently as the community grows while proactively protecting and preserving those resources for future generations.
