1. ncasi
The Value of Current Knowledge –
A Case Study of the Forest Products
Industry Water Profile
Canadian Water Summit
June 17, 2010 (Toronto, ON)
Kirsten Vice
Vice President, NCASI

2. Motivation
• Access to water
increasingly controlled
• FPI large user of fresh
water
• Information gaps for
stakeholders
• Water Profiles provide
holistic overview of
interconnections between
water resources and forest
products industry
operations

3. Elements of Water Profile
• Forest and Forest Management
• P&P and WP Manufacturing
• Effects of Effluents
on the Ecology of Surface Waters

4. Canadian Industry Water
Profile

5. Forest and Forest Management
• Forest and Forest Management The Challenge: to estimate the
relationship between forest
management areas and water
resources (precipitation and
hydrology) across a vast landscape.

6. Forest and Forest Management
Stuart-Takla (2000) Triton Brook (2005)
250 200
Runoff Runoff
180
Precipitation Precipitation
200 160
140
Carnation Creek (1998)
150 120
mm
700
mm
100
Runoff
80
600 Precipitation 100
60
500
40
50
400 20
mm
0
300 0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Month
200 Month
100 Catamaran Brook (1999)
0 250
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Runoff
Month Precipitation
200
Malcolm Knapp Research Forest (2000)
150
mm
400
Runoff 100
350
Precipitation
300
50
250
mm
200 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
150
Month
100
Hayward Brook (1996)
50
0 250
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 Runoff
Month Precipitation
200
Upper Penticton (2000)
150
250
mm
Runoff
Precipitation 100
200
Experimental Lakes (1975) REVEW (2000)
50
150 160 250
Runoff
mm
Runoff
140 Precipitation
Precipitation 0
100 200
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
120
Month
100
50 150
mm
mm
80
100
0 60
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
40
Month 50
20
0 0
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12
Month Month

7. Forest Management Elements
Precipitation – all water that
enters the system not lost to
immediate evaporation
- Rainfall

8. Forest Management Elements
Precipitation – all water that
enters the system not lost to
immediate evaporation.
- Rainfall
- Fog interception

9. Forest Management Elements
Precipitation – all water that
enters the system not lost to
immediate evaporation.
- Rainfall
- Fog interception
- Snow (and melt)

10. Forest Management Elements
Precipitation – all water that
enters the system not lost to
immediate evaporation.
- Rainfall
- Fog interception
- Snow (and melt)
Runoff – all water that
leaves the system via surface
or subsurface flow
Assumes constant
water-table

11. Forest Management Elements
Precipitation – all water that
enters the system not lost to
AET immediate evaporation.
- Rainfall
- Fog interception
- Snow (and melt)
Runoff – all water that
leaves the system via surface
or subsurface flow.
Annual Evapotranspiration –
calculated by subtracting
runoff from total precipitation
AET = Precipitation - Runoff

12. Forest and Forest Management
Assumptions:
an ecozone-based approach
• Majority (>98%) of
forestry occurs in nine
ecozones (probably)
• Forested areas are
unequally distributed
among ecozones (true)
• Forestry operations are
equally distributed among
forested areas within
ecozones (untrue –
Boreal Shield has ~50%
of forestry operations)
• Mean precipitation levels
can be estimated across
entire ecozones (??)

13. Forest and Forest Management
Element Million m3
Precipitation on 1 350 000
managed forest areas
Runoff from managed 670 000
forest areas
Evapotranspiration 680 000

14. Manufacturing Element: Concepts
• Water use: Total amount of water used for process and cooling
needs
Portion of water removed from a water
• Water consumption: source that is not immediately returned to
the water source (e.g., evaporative losses)
Water Evaporated (WE)
Water Intake
Water in Purchased
(WI)
Water Source
Chemicals (WCH)
Manufacturing
Water in Raw
Final Materials (WRM)
Effluent (FE)
Water in Final
Product Water in
(WFP) Residuals
(WR)

15. Approach
• Pulp & Paper – Perform mass balance calculations
on a mill-by-mill basis
• Ideally: Generate independent estimates of water
imports and exports (lack of data).
• Pragmatically: Use available data and estimated data to
estimate water withdrawals. This requires the use of an
iterative calculation procedure for closing the water
balance.
• Wood Products – Undertake typical wood mass
balances per wood product sub-category and
typical moisture contents
• Reasonable: Water use is <1% of that at P&P facilities

16. Water Profile for Manufacturing (2007)
(million m3 per year)
Forests • 93.4% water
inputs is from
surface and
ground water
groundwater
• 11.2% water inputs surface 31.8 Wood
are evaporated water products
water in wood recovered evaporation
• 1.3% water inputs 1,882
131.9 recycle 0.84 2.47
are imparted to
residuals and 1.74
product
Manufacturing
Non-fiber other water water in Products
Raw Material inputs products
2.34 19.89
• 87.5% water inputs are
returned to surface water to surface to ground evaporation water in disposal
water cycle water cycle solid residuals
cycle 1,793.9 0 231.5 4.66 14.83

17. Water Profile for the Canadian Industry (2007)
(million m3 per year)
evapotranspiration 680,000
Forests
precipitation surface water runoff and
groundwater recharge 670,000 water
1,350,000
resource cycle
• FPI water use ~ groundwater
surface 31.8 Wood
0.3% of total water products
stream flow water in wood 1,882 recovered evaporation
produced by 131.9 recycle 0.84 2.47
managed forests 1.74
Manufacturing
Non-fiber other water water in Products
inputs products
Raw Material
2.34 19.89
to surface to ground evaporation water in disposal
water cycle water cycle solid residuals
1,793.9 0 231.5 4.66 14.83

18. The Value of Current Knowledge –
Opportunities and Limitations
• Breadth of forestry across Canada
necessitates assumptions
– Local or regional estimates will always be more
accurate
• Water consumption only roughly 10% of
water use for P&P manufacturing
– Site-specific calculations optimal
– Process-specific knowledge required
– Balance can be struck between measurement
devices & engineering estimation