Industrial Water Diagnostic
Comprehensive analysis of the site and water integration in production
Project overview
Client: Avient
Location: Assesse, Belgium
Industry: Chemical
Key results
Full site water analysis
Mapping of all water sources, consumption points, and discharge streams across a complex multi-line chemical production site, replacing assumptions with measured data.
Compliance and risk identification
Regulatory gaps and supply vulnerabilities identified, including permit exceedances, groundwater drought risk, and unnecessary tax exposure from mixed discharge streams.
Prioritised action plan with ROI
Seven concrete improvement opportunities defined and ranked by investment level and impact, from smart monitoring and cooling recirculation to rainwater harvesting and discharge separation.
The Challenge
A site consuming nearly 12,000 m³ of water per year, with limited visibility over where it goes, discharge limits being exceeded, and growing exposure to both drought and regulatory risk.
Avient's production facility in Assesse operates 14 extrusion lines and relies almost entirely on a private groundwater well for its water supply. Water plays a critical role across cooling, cleaning, and utility operations, yet no automated system existed to track consumption by use, detect anomalies, or manage the water balance across the site. Meter readings were taken manually, data coverage was limited, and no online dashboard was in place.
The environmental permit governing the site's discharges sets strict limits on daily volumes, suspended solids, detergent concentrations, and other parameters. Analysis of 2024 discharge data revealed that several of these limits were being exceeded, including daily discharge volumes and nitrogen peaks, creating real exposure to regulatory sanctions and pollution taxes. A tax simulation showed that 52% of industrial wastewater costs were driven by discharge volume alone, with a further 30% attributable to suspended solids.
The broader water context adds further urgency. Assesse receives below-average annual rainfall of around 605 mm and sits within a protected groundwater catchment zone. During the 2017 drought, the on-site well dropped to its operational limit. Belgium's drought frequency is increasing, and water rationing measures were already activated in the municipality that year. Without a clear picture of how water enters and leaves the site, and without a plan to reduce dependency on the aquifer, Avient had no structured way to address these risks.
Avient mandated Revalio to carry out a full industrial water diagnostic: mapping all water sources, uses, and discharge points, assessing regulatory compliance, and building a prioritised action plan with return on investment projections.
What Revalio Delivered
Revalio structured the diagnostic across five workstreams, combining site visits, meter review, consumption data analysis, regulatory assessment, and improvement planning.
1. Water Source Analysis
All water sources serving the site were identified and assessed: groundwater from the on-site well, mains distribution water from the SWDE network, rainfall falling on site rooftops, and the potential for treated water reuse. Each source was evaluated for availability risk, supply dependency, and cost. The analysis confirmed that near-total reliance on a single groundwater well represents a meaningful supply risk, particularly given the site's location in a protected catchment zone and the drought history of the area.
2. Consumption Data Review
Existing data sources were reviewed, including utility bills, meter readings, and available process data. The site operates five meters, a mix of analogue and digital devices, with no automatic readings and no leak detection in place. Consumption was mapped across sanitary use, cooling, and cleaning, identifying where data gaps exist and which uses require further quantification to enable meaningful optimisation.
3. Usage Mapping and Metering Assessment
Each consumption point was mapped against the available measurement infrastructure to identify coverage gaps and prioritise where new or upgraded metering is needed. Cooling across the 14 production lines and manual equipment cleaning were identified as the dominant industrial uses. The assessment also confirmed which existing meters are compatible with a smart monitoring upgrade and which require replacement.
4. Effluent Management and Regulatory Compliance Review
The site discharges through five outfall points. Industrial wastewater passes through a four-stage primary treatment system combining screening, rotary filtration, sand filtration, and settlement. While the system has sufficient capacity in principle, performance is compromised by the intermittent nature of industrial flows. Several permit parameters were exceeded in 2024. Critically, stormwater is currently mixed into the industrial discharge stream at outfall R1, artificially inflating taxable volumes and making permit compliance harder to maintain.
5. Action Plan with Prioritised Improvements
Based on the diagnostic findings, Revalio developed a prioritised roadmap of seven improvement opportunities, each assessed for investment level, water savings potential, regulatory impact, and broader operational benefits.
How the Diagnostic Works
Revalio's water diagnostic follows a structured methodology designed to turn fragmented site data into a clear, actionable plan.
The process starts with the sources: understanding where water comes from, in what volumes, and at what risk. It then moves to the uses: mapping every consumption point, cross-referencing with available meter data, and identifying where measurement gaps prevent effective management. Effluent streams are assessed against permit requirements, and the cost drivers within wastewater taxation are broken down to expose the highest-value levers.
The output is not a general report but a ranked action plan. Each recommendation is assessed against four criteria: return on investment, technical feasibility, water savings potential, and energy and materials impact. This allows the client to make informed decisions about sequencing, prioritise quick wins alongside longer-term structural changes, and enter follow-on projects with clear objectives and realistic expectations.
For Avient, the seven recommended actions span smart monitoring, cooling water recirculation, cleaning process optimisation, cleaning water recirculation with external CIP tanks, rainwater harvesting from the site's extensive roof surfaces, discharge stream separation to reduce tax liability, and improved monitoring of the existing wastewater treatment system.
Results
✓ Complete mapping of water sources, consumption points, and discharge streams across a complex multi-line chemical production site.
✓ Regulatory compliance gaps identified across daily discharge volumes, nitrogen levels, and detergent concentrations, with root causes traced and improvement routes defined.
✓ Supply vulnerability quantified, including the site's dependence on a single groundwater source in a drought-prone, protected catchment zone.
✓ Tax exposure analysed, revealing that discharge volume and suspended solids together account for over 80% of industrial wastewater tax costs.
✓ Seven prioritised improvement opportunities defined, covering monitoring, recirculation, cleaning, rainwater use, and effluent management, each with an investment and impact assessment.
✓ A phased implementation roadmap delivered, enabling Avient to act immediately on high-impact, low-investment measures while planning larger infrastructure changes with full cost visibility.
Need visibility for your water consumption?
Understanding a site's water situation in full, sources, uses, discharges, and risks, is the essential first step before any investment makes sense. Revalio's industrial water diagnostic gives you that complete picture, along with a practical, costed roadmap to act on it.
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