Food industry in Flanders moves towards data-driven and circular water management
Future-proof water management in the food sector starts with insight into water flows, water quality, and risks. To accelerate circular water usage, reliable measurement data, a comprehensive water balance, and clear frameworks are necessary.
Source of Insights
On 31 March, an exchange took place between professionals from the food, technology, and water sectors during the event: The Water Management Plan Unravelled: From Challenge to Impact. The insights from this article stem from this collaboration between POM West-Flanders, Flanders’ FOOD, UGent VEG-i-TEC, VITO Kennispunt Water, and Howest Energy Lab.
Water Management Is Becoming More Strategic for Food Companies
Water is not just a minor requirement in the food sector. It is an essential resource, a quality factor, and increasingly a strategic focus point.
Drought, stricter discharge requirements, rising costs, and increasing pressure on water resources make water management more complex. At the same time, there is growing ambition to use water more efficiently, reuse it where possible, and reduce dependence on external water sources.
This requires more than a technical intervention. Companies need insight into their water flows, the required water quality for each application, and the risks that arise when water flows are mixed or reused.
The Sector is Moving Forward, But Not at the Same Pace
The food sector is taking clear steps towards circular water use. Some pioneers are already reusing 70 to 80% of their water and are working with real-time data and control systems.
At the same time, many SMEs still lack a complete water balance or basic understanding of their water use. As a result, it remains difficult to decide where water savings, reuse, or additional monitoring can have the most impact.
This gap is not just technological. In practice, legislation, definitions, QA requirements, and missing frameworks often prove to be equally defining for the speed at which companies can adapt.
From Water Balance to Targeted Action
A future-oriented water management plan begins with simple, but crucial questions.
- What water enters the system?
- Where is it used?
- What quality is needed for each application?
- Where are losses occurring?
- Which flows are eligible for reuse?
- What risks arise with mixed water or variable water quality?
A complete water balance helps companies answer these questions. It makes visible where water is consumed, where optimisation is possible, and where additional measurements are needed.
Afterwards, a company can more accurately determine which actions are meaningful. Consider process optimisation, reuse of specific flows, additional purification, real-time monitoring, or collaboration with other companies in the area.
Measurement Data Makes Water Reuse Concrete
Circular water use requires reliable data. Not just to comply with obligations, but especially to understand what is technically, operationally, and qualitatively feasible.
Nowadays, companies often measure what is necessary, but not always what is required to actively manage water. Robust inline measurements remain crucial, especially as companies evolve towards real-time monitoring and digital water balances.
Good monitoring data helps to:
- map water flows
- track variations in water quality
- better understand risks with reuse
- support process choices
- make investments in purification or reuse more targeted
Therefore, measuring is not a standalone exercise. It is the basis for moving from water management to water steering.
Fit-for-Purpose Water Use Requires Clear Frameworks
Fit-for-purpose water use starts from a logical thought: not every application requires the same water quality. Where it is safe and responsible, water with an adjusted quality can be used.
Yet this approach today faces practical and legal hurdles. QA requirements, absent definitions, and a lack of risk-based legislation make it unclear for companies which forms of reuse are feasible or allowed.
Mixed water also requires attention. When different water flows come together, operational risks can arise that are not sufficiently controlled today.
Moreover, concentrate streams remain a structural challenge. They often form a barrier to further circularity because reuse and purification also create residual streams that need a solution.
Collaboration Can Accelerate, but Needs a Backbone
Many companies are also considering regional cooperation. Water flows, residual water, or purification capacity can be shared or coordinated between companies in the same region in certain cases.
The willingness to collaborate is there. But legally and practically, regional cooperation remains difficult to realise.
This is exactly why a combination of company data, technical solutions, clear agreements, and policy frameworks is needed. Only then can circular water management scale up from individual cases to broader application within the sector.
The Direction is Clear
The food sector is evolving towards data-driven, circular water management with real-time monitoring, digital water balances, and a risk-based approach.
The key lesson is simple: you cannot control what you do not measure. And without a clear framework, acceleration remains difficult.
For VITO Kennispunt Water , this closely aligns with the focus on circular water use, water quality, and the pollutant chain approach. By connecting knowledge, measurement data, and practical experience, companies can take more targeted steps towards future-oriented water management.
Map Your Water Flows
Do you want to know where water reuse is possible in your company? Start by understanding your water flows.
View the range of measuring kits, fill in the Waterbarometer and take the first step towards a substantiated water management plan.
