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When we talk about the water crisis, “the effect of short showers is negligible overall,” says Riggs Eckelberry, the CEO and Founder of @OriginClear. Watch expert commentary on how to reuse water at home, water systems and why we should opt for new water recycling approaches to avoid crisis and secure water in the US.
00:00 - Introduction
00:23 - About OriginClear and Riggs Eckelberry
01:10 - Clean water problem
03:35 - Water shortage in California
09:45 - Water recycling process at home
12:45 - Costs for water recycling
16:44 - What to do if recycling system breaks
17:55 - Water reuse system maintenance
18:42 - Recycled water vs bottled water
19:40 - Conclusion
More information about OriginClear and water demand: https://www.originclear.com/
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0:00
With the official start of summer just a few days away
0:02
scientists say a mega drought across the western U.S. could get even worse
0:08
Millions of people in the state are now under new intense water restrictions
0:13
All right. Millions of Southern Californians are now under new water restrictions amid the state's severe drought
0:23
My name is Riggs Echleberry, and I'm the co-founder of Origin Clear
0:27
which is a company that is working hard to create innovative, disruptive ventures in the water industry
0:36
We're essentially an innovation hub. So we have conventional water companies that we've created in the industrial space
0:42
We also have new financial vehicles to create water as a service, which is a whole new area
0:48
And we also have a division that does nothing but modular water systems to get away from the custom water
0:57
equipment, you know, the water industry is in a way very, very backward
1:03
And so we have some technology that creates these water systems in a box, which is very exciting
1:08
Hi, my name is Michael. Thank you for joining. Is the problem in America only or it's worldwide clean water
1:15
There are several different levels. Worldwide, counting everybody, only about 20% of all sewage is treated
1:24
Now, that's not true of OECDG. countries, which do a good job of treating most of their water, but then you have places
1:33
you know, in the undeveloped world or developing world like Bangladesh where there's virtually
1:38
no water treatment. And even a place that's a second world country like Mexico has very
1:45
you know, there's rivers in Mexico that look like a rainbow because there's a lot of dumping
1:51
still going on. So I would say there's a big difference between the developed countries like
1:56
America, European countries, Australia, and the developing countries. But even America does not reach as high a standard as, for example, Italy
2:08
I remember having vacationed in Italy several times around a lake that was surrounded
2:14
I guess an old volcano, was surrounded by fields that went down into the lake
2:20
and yet the lake was pure, pristine, completely drinkable water, water even despite the, but in America, the fertilizer would have been going into that lake and
2:31
creating all kinds of algae. So I would say that the best practices are in the European community
2:37
America does okay, but then there's the factor of the recycling. And in that area
2:43
probably the world leader is Israel, where almost 90% of all water is recycled. The second in the
2:49
world is Spain with 20%. America is only 1%. And the reason for that is that we have an old
2:56
sewage grid that only works one way. Just like the energy grid, you send your water to the city, the city processes it, and then
3:06
sends it into the ocean or a river or whatever. Treat it, there's nothing wrong with the water, but the opportunity to recycle has been lost
3:14
And we're seeing that as an issue in places like California where they're still struggling
3:21
with outdated sewage systems. and they're struggling, for example, in San Diego
3:26
they're trying to do this thing called toilet to tap. But because the central systems aren't built that way
3:32
it's involving billions of dollars. So there's some new approaches needed in places like California
3:39
because there's an infrastructure problem, essentially. So you think California problems can be solved
3:48
with a little bit of money, a little bit of ingenuity, but it's not something that cannot be solved with water recycling
3:56
Water recycling helps tremendously. Now, here is the gorilla in the middle of the room in California
4:02
and that is that agriculture represents about 80% of all use. So, yes, we're happy that citizens are taking shorter showers, et cetera
4:10
but the effect, the net effect is negligible overall. It's a good PR campaign, but the fact is that
4:20
increasingly there has been a pivot toward high value crops such as nuts and so forth
4:28
which are high water users. Now, granted, there's also been a lot of headway, you know, there's been basically
4:38
more movement towards high value crops, which tend to use more water, but also more water efficiency
4:46
But that's kind of dancing around the problem, which is, It a desert and the high agricultural use in California unfortunately you know it something like what is it you know billion a year
5:04
It's a ridiculous amount of money that is, here we go. No, I apologize
5:11
$20 billion a year in exports for agricultural products, and they have to irrigate
5:21
And, you know, there's vast amount. of water. You know, 34 million acre feet of water per year are irrigated. Well, an acre foot can
5:31
easily take care of four households so that right there is, you know, those 34 million means
5:42
about 120 million people could be served with the same amount of water that is being used for
5:50
irrigation. That's the nature of the beast because, you know, 80% of all water use in California
5:59
is agricultural. So at some point, I think California is going to have to confront that issue
6:07
and deal with it in a, as much as a creative way as possible. I'm reading the Public Policy
6:16
Institute of California website here. And the, the, higher revenue crops such as nuts and grapes, which again use a lot of water
6:26
have increased as a share of irrigated acreage from 16% in 1980 to 33% in 2015
6:35
and up to 45% in the southern Central Valley. So lots more use of water, which generated more revenue
6:47
but actually farm water use was 14% lower. So it's good that they are doing, they're working very hard to become more efficient, but there's limits
6:57
If you're going to use high water usage, you know, when I take a bunch of grapes, most of those, that bunch of grapes is water
7:07
And that gets taken. It can't be reused. It gets taken to a grocery store in New York City or whatever and consume there
7:17
So that water leaves California and it can never reclaim. So I think at some point we're going to have to confront the nature of the agriculture use in California
7:29
I got you. So from your point of view, it's agricultural need for water
7:34
Actually, what's taking most of the Californian water out. Regular consumers most likely are not going to suffer really badly, meaning, yeah, they have, what's it
7:47
called sporadic turnoffs and turn-ons of water in their households, but it's not like they're going to end up in the complete desert without any water around them
7:58
Most likely Californians will just spend less water on the agriculture. That's your point of view
8:03
I actually think that residential users are going to suffer because the government has already shown that they're going to start doing rationing
8:13
They're encouraging a lot. And by the way, the populations in California
8:17
California have been very, very supportive. Per capita water use has declined from 231 gallons
8:24
per day in 1990 to 180 gallons per day in 2010, and it continues to fall. In fact, 2015
8:33
it was 146 gallons per day. So they're doing a fine job, mostly by reducing landscape watering
8:40
but there's going to be requirements for long-term reductions. If you are a big water user for landscape, I can tell you that, because I've been a water
8:51
user in California, your water bill goes crazy. So, yeah, desert plants, of course
8:59
But what I'm saying is all that stuff is going to be, you know, it's going to be hard
9:05
for residential users and there's going to be sacrifice. but it doesn't accomplish that much in numerical terms
9:13
The real gains are in the agricultural area, and unfortunately, $20 billion a year is a big vote
9:23
It is very hard to get rid of that revenue for California
9:27
So they're in a tough place. It's really, really hard for them to get rid of their, you know
9:33
get rid of avocados and instead plant barley. It's going to be very hard
9:37
I would like to move to the next subject. You've mentioned that water recycling equipment could be purchased and installed in a single household
9:47
Can you talk a little bit about it? What is it? Do you work with such equipment or can you just advise our consumers a little bit about water recycling for a single home The best what we deal with is of course we work at the housing development use level
10:03
because let me just say something about, you know, single family. It's a very competitive market
10:11
There are systems for water recycling. For example, Fuji water has an excellent system for making, taking you off the grid
10:22
and you don't need a sewage connection if you have a single family home
10:26
And they do a fine job. It's, I don't know, $10,000, $12,000. We don't try and compete with that because they do a fine job already
10:34
And as you know, a whole home water purification is also very mature
10:40
What we like to do is intervene at the housing development level to work with the developers
10:45
and so that they have an opportunity to locate the entire development away from conventional
10:51
water sources. And where Origin Clear comes in is we have a program that enables them to not pay
10:58
up front for them the equipment, but rather pay by the gallon, as if they were still getting it
11:03
from the city. So we call that water on demand. It's a basically, it creates a water as a service
11:09
We have investors who purchase the equipment. And then these housing developments can just
11:15
enjoy the three parts, as I said, the incoming clean water, the water, the treatment of the
11:23
black water, and the recycling of what we call the gray water, all on a completely self-sufficient
11:29
basis. And I think that's the future because more and more residential requirements are outstripping
11:38
the availability of sewage. Let's take, for example, Miami-Dade County, which built about, you know
11:45
It expanded very fast without any kind of urban planning back almost 100 years ago
11:50
And what was installed was over 100,000 septic tanks were installed throughout the county, very widely spread
11:59
And so the county has come up with a proposal because septic tanks are terrible. As the water levels rise due to saltwater intrusion, et cetera, it's become a problem
12:11
So they want to replace all those septic tanks with. hard sewage. Well, that's $6 billion in today's money, probably be about eight or ten by the time
12:22
it's built, 20 years of disruption, et cetera, et cetera. The better solution is to simply run a rebate
12:27
program and let people install their own self-sufficient water treatment. So these, the, you know
12:35
do-it-yourself water treatment, I believe is the solution to a lot of problems in America
12:40
and it enables a lot more utilization of the water, be it residential, industrial
12:45
agricultural. With your plan price per gallon of water, how does it impact consumers' wallet? Is it less
12:53
expensive? Is it more expensive? What is the pricing structure there? Price has been skyrocketing for
13:01
water. Water rates are not very regulated. You would think they would be, but they're not. And so
13:07
the water rates over a 10-year period that I'm looking at here tripled
13:15
versus ordinary core inflation. So water rates were already taking off even before the current inflationary phase
13:25
So, and in some places, there are as high as 14% of the residential budget, which is ridiculous
13:35
So that's another reason for people to become self-sufficient. You know, I never thought I'd say it, but, you know, the preppers were right
13:45
You need to have a plan for taking care of yourself in this current environment and that includes water
13:51
So what's your current price per water in some of your installations
13:56
How does it match up to the town's water in comparable locations
14:01
Is it similar? Is it 20% higher? Is it 20% lower? How does it compare
14:05
Well, okay, there's two things. First of all, by adopting our waters of service program, we enable and we're really talking about businesses or communities, right
14:15
So we're not talking about a single family homes, but if it is residential, it will be a community of homes or it's a business
14:21
And those by committing to a long-term contract for water service, they can limit their increases
14:31
So it's a way to cap the inflation increases by going into our programs
14:37
That's number one. Number two, by doing their own treatment, they're able to reuse their water the way they normally cannot
14:45
not And that and I give you an example in a brewery you can reuse about 50 of the water without using the water for beer just for washdowns and steam vessels and so forth And so if you can get a 50 increase in water use for every dollar you spend that a win
15:05
So I would say a combination of service contracts that cap the increases to some reasonable inflation index
15:13
and also reuse of water to get more turns out of the water
15:19
Does your system produce drinkable water as an end product? Is it a drinkable water
15:26
Exactly. Currently, we're about to inaugurate. Hotels are beginning to install whole hotel water systems
15:34
And we have such a high-end hotel chain. Unfortunately, we can't disclose yet
15:40
They're launching in July with our system. And what they've chosen to do is all the water coming into the hotel is pure, whether it's
15:49
for kitchen, showers, anything. And that, I think, is going to become a trend
15:55
And so we have a well-priced system that is certainly very affordable for a business or a community
16:04
that does the full reverse osmosis, which is what you need to get rid of those
16:11
what's called the forever chemicals, the PFAS, as they call it, the things that are in Teflon and so forth
16:17
there's really only one way to get rid of those. and that's with reverse osmosis, and that's what you have to use to clean the incoming water
16:26
In my home, for example, I don't have reverse osmosis for the entire home
16:31
I have just a plain 0.2 micron filter, but in my kitchen sink, I have a tap that is RO water
16:40
and that's what we drink from. And that's really what you have to do. Another question I have, so the hotel installs your system
16:46
Do they install a duplicate system right next to it? what happens if your system breaks
16:52
I want this hotel, which I can tell you, it's located in, it will be located in Nashville, Tennessee
16:58
You can always switch. The city water will not kill people immediately
17:02
So it's not like they're going from pure water to no water
17:06
They're going from pure water for the brief amount of time that might be down
17:11
They'll have to, there'll be tap water. But remember that these systems on service contract, they're easy to swap out
17:18
we have local service providers who come in, they swap out the filters
17:23
whatever is broken down about it. These are very simple systems. It's just like a refrigerator breaking down
17:29
Generally, you have enough time before the fridge starts to warm up that you can fix it
17:33
Similarly, with incoming water, as I say, nobody loves, you know, it's strange, Michael
17:40
Once upon a time, we all drank pure, drank tap water and it was okay
17:45
That's now become a no-no. but, you know, if it's two, three hours, five hours on tap water, it's not the end of the world
17:52
My experience with water filtration is lots and lots of maintenance because filters get clogged up and they need to be clean
18:02
So that's my question. How do you address regular maintenance? How does it occur
18:07
This is a complex system and it needs to be addressed properly
18:11
People can invest in redundant systems that typically do. don't. That's the truth of it. Because, again, you're not going from pure water to no water
18:24
You're going from pure water to treated water, which many, many people would say, old-fashioned
18:32
people would say it's just fine. So we haven't run into people who are willing to invest in redundant
18:39
systems, as put it that way. Quality-wise, do you have any data comparing your water to
18:45
bottled water being sold in the stores? Bottle water is typically purified using reverse osmosis
18:53
There is an issue with bottled water being in plastic, and there's some data that the plastic can contaminate the water
19:04
especially if you let the bottle get hot, you know, or you let it get warm
19:11
But there's not a huge difference in quality. I would say that if you have a standard bottled water that comes out of 7-11
19:25
it will be reverse osmosis treated, it'll be pure, and it'll be very similar to the water you can get from one of our water systems
19:33
The difference, of course, is that we're not using a ton of plastic bottles
19:38
I mean, that's the big difference. You guys watching this video, please sign up for Best Consumer Channel
19:43
It means a lot like this video and Riggs. Thank you very much. Thank you for joining us today
#Water Filters & Purifiers