Piedmont Atlanta’s New WaterHub Can Reclaim 250,000 Gallons of Wastewater Daily, Power Some Hospital Utilities
On Tuesday, June 27th, Denise Starling, executive director of Livable Buckhead, joined Dr. Patrick M. Battey, CEO of Piedmont Atlanta Hospital (PAH), NextEra Energy Resources, members of Livable Buckhead’s Sustainability Committee, and other dignitaries to unveil PAH’s amazing efforts to reduce their water footprint by 40% with their new WaterHub(sm) .
Livable Buckhead has been working to get a water hub in Buckhead for years, so congratulations to the team that pulled this off. The great folks at Piedmont understood the stress on Atlanta’s water supply, had a desire to reduce their environmental footprint, wanted to enhance their operational resiliency, and saw the benefit to their bottom line. So they made it happen. A 40% reduction of the hospital’s water footprint is a win for Piedmont Hospital, a win for Buckhead, and a win for the region. Water is a big deal for Atlanta and good stewardship is incredibly important for our future. The folks at Piedmont are walking the talk and I would like to congratulate them on this success and thank them for their part in making Buckhead one of the greenest communities in the south,” remarked Denise Starling at the ribbon cutting.
An eco-engineered wastewater reclamation and reuse system, the WaterHub(sm) is projected to help Piedmont Atlanta reclaim up to 250,000 gallons of wastewater per day from the hospital and turn it into water that can be used in the hospital’s cooling towers and boiler systems. Over the next decade, this wastewater reclamation could save up to 750 million gallons of potable, or drinking-quality, water that would have otherwise been drawn from regional water resources. This water will not be used for the hospital’s drinking water supply. For that use, the hospital will continue to receive water from the City of Atlanta Department of Watershed Management, as it always has.
“Consistent with our mission as a nonprofit to serve our community, we see this project as a positive step in being a conscientious steward of the resources entrusted to us and one that will benefit the entire community,” said Patrick M. Battey, M.D., chief executive officer of Piedmont Atlanta.
The WaterHub(sm) is designed to reduce the impact of the 643-bed hospital on the public water and sewer infrastructure in Atlanta. It will also help ensure normal hospital operations can continue in the event of any disruption to the public water supply. The WaterHub(sm) works by using biological treatment and advanced filtration technology to naturally break down organic matter in wastewater, enabling its use for non-potable, or non-drinking, purposes. It is specifically designed to suppress odors that are typical in wastewater treatment.
“Water is a valuable resource and the WaterHub(sm) treats it as such,” said Matt Ulman, vice president of Distributed Generation for NextEra Energy Resources, a Piedmont partner on this project. “Our innovative technology allows businesses to improve operations and the bottom line by minimizing its environmental footprint, improving operational resiliency and reducing the need for potable water by millions of gallons annually.”
The different components that make up the WaterHub(sm) are housed in a new structure along Collier Road on the northwest side of the Piedmont Atlanta campus. Construction began in September 2021.
Congratulations to the great folks at Piedmont for showing such amazing environmental leadership!
