What Water Quality Data You Must Provide Before Designing a Reuse System?

I see many factory owners wasting money on systems that fail. You want to cut costs, but poor planning leads to headaches. The root cause? Usually, it is missing water data.

To design a reliable reuse system, you must provide specific water quality data including pH, COD, BOD, TSS, and TDS. You also need to clarify if the source is raw sewage or treated effluent and define your required output standards. Accurate data ensures the equipment fits your specific needs.

In my experience at ROAGUA, I have seen projects fail simply because the owner guessed their water quality. A food factory in South America once bought a standard machine for complex wastewater, and it clogged in two days. Let’s stop that from happening to you. Here is exactly what you need to know to get a quote that works and equipment that lasts.

Which water quality parameters should I collect before starting a reuse system design?

Do you feel overwhelmed by technical terms when asking for a quote? If you send the wrong numbers, you get the wrong machine. Let’s make this simple for you.

You must collect five core parameters: pH level, Total Suspended Solids (SS), Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD), Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD), and Total Dissolved Solids (TDS). Additionally, you need to measure the flow rate and temperature. These numbers tell us exactly how dirty the water is.

When I talk to clients like you in the food industry, the first thing I ask is: “What is in your water?” It sounds simple, but the answer dictates everything we build. You cannot just say “it is dirty water.” We need to know specifically what makes it dirty.

The Big Five Parameters Explained

In the food and beverage industry, your water is very different from a textile factory or a mine. You have organic matter, fats, and oils. Here is a breakdown of the specific data points I need you to gather.

1. COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) and BOD (Biochemical Oxygen Demand)

These are the most critical numbers for food factories. They measure the amount of organic pollution in your water. If you process fruit, meat, or sugary drinks, your BOD and COD will be high. If we do not know these numbers, the bacteria in the treatment system might die, or the filters will get overwhelmed immediately.

2. TSS (Total Suspended Solids)

This measures the physical particles floating in the water. In your industry, this could be fruit pulp, grain pieces, or soil. If the TSS is high, we need to add a pre-filter or a sedimentation tank. If we skip this step because we lacked data, these solids will block the expensive membranes in the reuse system.

3. TDS (Total Dissolved Solids) and Conductivity

This represents the salts and minerals dissolved in the water that you cannot see. Even if the water looks clear, high TDS prevents it from being reused for boilers or cooling towers. We need this number to decide if you need Reverse Osmosis (RO) technology.

4. pH Level

Is your water acidic or basic? Food fermentation often creates acidic water, while cleaning processes use strong alkaline soaps. We need to know the pH to select the right materials for the pipes and tanks so they do not corrode.

5. Oil and Grease

For food processing, this is vital. Animal fats or vegetable oils can ruin water treatment membranes instantly. We must know the concentration of oil to install an oil separator before the main system.

Raw Water vs. Treated Effluent

Another major point you must clarify is the current state of the water. Are you giving us data for the water coming straight out of the factory (Raw Wastewater), or water that has already passed through a biological treatment plant (Treated Effluent/Middle Water)?

If you want a reuse system, we are usually treating “Middle Water” to make it high quality again. Below is a table showing why this distinction matters for your wallet.

If you provide the wrong data source, the design will be completely wrong. Always label your samples clearly.

How do I test and document my wastewater characteristics for system suppliers?

Are you worried that testing your water sounds expensive and complicated? Guessing is actually much more expensive than testing. A small lab fee saves you thousands later.

You should hire a local certified laboratory to analyze your water samples. Collect samples at different times of the day to capture peak production hours. Document these results in a clear spreadsheet and share the official lab report with your equipment supplier for analysis.

Many of my customers try to save money by buying a cheap handheld pen to test their water. Please do not do this. Those pens are okay for a rough guess on pH or TDS, but they cannot measure COD, BOD, or specific ions. You need a professional view.

Finding the Right “Peak” Moments

In a food factory, water quality changes every hour. Imagine you are washing vegetables in the morning, but cleaning the floor with strong chemicals in the afternoon. If you only test the water in the morning, you miss the chemicals.

I recommend taking what we call a “Composite Sample.” This means you take a small cup of water every hour for 24 hours, mix them together, and test that mixture. Alternatively, you can test during your “worst” time—when production is highest or when cleaning happens. We need to design the machine to handle the worst-case scenario, not the best one.

Documenting the Requirements for Reuse

Testing the input water is only half the battle. You also need to tell me what the water needs to look like after treatment. This is your “Standard.”

If you want to reuse the water for:

• Washing floors: The standard is low.

• Irrigation: The standard is medium (watch out for salt).

• Boilers or Cooling Towers: The standard is very high (needs low TDS).

• Product Ingredient: The standard is potable (drinking) water.

You must write this down clearly. “I want to reuse water” is not enough. You must say, “I want to reuse water for my cooling tower.”

A Simple Data Checklist for You

To make it easy for you to communicate with suppliers like us, I have created a simple checklist. You can copy this and fill it out.

When you send this table to a supplier in China, they will respect you. It shows you are professional and serious. It helps us give you a price in 24 hours instead of asking 20 questions back and forth.

Why is accurate water quality data critical for a successful reuse project?

Have you ever bought a machine that broke down after a month? It is frustrating and hurts your profits. This usually happens when the design does not match reality.

Accurate data allows engineers to select the correct treatment technology, such as the right size of membranes and pumps. It prevents rapid clogging, reduces maintenance costs, and ensures the treated water actually meets your reuse standards. Without it, the system will likely fail.

I cannot stress this enough: water treatment is a science, not magic. Every piece of equipment has limits. If you feed a machine water that is 50% dirtier than what it was designed for, it will break.

The Cost of Being “About Right”

Let me tell you a story about a client in the beverage industry. He told us his TDS was 500 ppm. We built a Reverse Osmosis system based on that number. When the machine arrived, it worked for one week and then the pressure dropped. The machine stopped.

We investigated and found out his actual TDS spiked to 2000 ppm during the afternoon shift. The membranes were completely scaled up (blocked by minerals).

Because the data was wrong:

1. Downtime: His factory had no recycled water for 3 weeks.

2. Replacement Costs: He had to buy a whole new set of membranes ($5,000 USD cost).

4. Modifications: We had to add a dosing pump to handle the scale.

If he had spent $200 on a proper lab test initially, he would have saved over $5,000 and weeks of stress.

Matching Technology to Data

Different pollutants require different tools. If you do not give us the data, we might sell you a Ferrari when you need a Tractor, or vice versa.

• High Suspended Solids? We use Ultrafiltration (UF) or sand filters.

• High Organics (COD/BOD)? We use biological treatment (MBR).

• High Salt (TDS)? We use Reverse Osmosis (RO).

• Bacteria? We use UV sterilization or Ozone.

Ensuring Your ROI (Return on Investment)

You buy these machines to save money on water bills. If the machine requires constant expensive repairs because the design was wrong, your ROI disappears.

Accurate data ensures the system runs smoothly with minimal chemical usage and electricity. It means the “consumables” (filters, membranes) last for years, not months. It protects your investment. When we know the exact water quality, we can calculate exactly how much it will cost you to produce one ton of clean water. This helps you plan your business budget accurately.

What mistakes should I avoid when preparing water quality information for design?

Do you think all water reports are the same? Many owners make simple mistakes that ruin the whole project. Avoid these traps to keep your project on budget.

A common mistake is providing data from a single point in time rather than an average over a week. Another error is failing to mention seasonal changes or cleaning chemicals used in the factory. Always tell your supplier about every chemical that enters the drain.

We want your project to be a success story, not a warning to others. Over the years, I have noticed patterns in the mistakes factory owners make. These are easy to fix if you know about them.

Mistake 1: Ignoring the Cleaning Chemicals (CIP)

In food factories, you likely have a CIP (Clean-In-Place) process. This is when you flush the pipes with hot acid or strong caustic soda to kill bacteria.

Often, clients send us water samples taken during production. The water looks okay. But at 5:00 PM, when the cleaning starts, the pH jumps from 7 to 12. If our biological bacteria tank gets hit with pH 12 water, the bacteria die. The system crashes. You must tell us: “We use caustic soda for cleaning for 1 hour every day.” We can then add a neutralization tank to fix the pH before it hurts the system.

Mistake 2: Confusing Units of Measurement

This happens more than you think.

• Is your flow rate in Gallons per Minute (GPM) or Cubic Meters per Hour (m³/h)?

• Is your hardness in mg/L or German Degrees?

If you say “The flow is 10,” and we assume m³/h but you meant GPM, the machine will be the wrong size. Always write the unit next to the number. As a supplier in China, we prefer metric units (m³/h, mg/L), but we can work with anything as long as it is clearly labeled.

Mistake 3: Overlooking Seasonal Changes

Does your factory process mangoes in the summer and nothing in the winter? Or maybe production doubles before Christmas?

If your water quantity or quality changes with the seasons, we need to know. A system designed for the “slow season” will overflow during the “busy season.” Conversely, a system designed for the busy season might be too big and waste energy during the slow season.

We can design a modular system that can turn on or off based on demand, but only if you tell us about these variations upfront.

Mistake 4: Not Defining the “End Use” Properly

I often ask, “What will you do with the water?” and the client says, “Reuse it.”

This is dangerous.

• Reuse for toilet flushing needs basic filtration and disinfection.

• Reuse for boiler feed needs high-end reverse osmosis.

If you use toilet-grade water in your boiler, your boiler will explode or corrode. If you use boiler-grade water for toilets, you wasted money on expensive equipment you didn’t need. Be specific about the destination of the water.

Summary of Pitfalls to Avoid

By avoiding these mistakes, you ensure that the proposal you receive from ROAGUA or any other supplier is accurate, safe, and cost-effective.

Providing accurate water quality data—specifically pH, COD, BOD, TSS, and TDS—is the single most important step in designing a water reuse system. It protects your investment, ensures the equipment works, and saves you from expensive repairs. Take the time to test, not guess.

Would you like me to send you a blank “Water Quality Data Sheet” template to help you gather this information for your engineer?