Memo

To: Mrs. Kathleen Wynne, Premier of Ontario

From: Abu Bakar Abid, Jimiel Selmanovski, Maulik Vora, Ahmed Al-Muqdadi,
Joseph Pereira
Subject: Proposal for Recommendation Report On Turning Toilet Water To
Drinking Water
Date: November 7, 2016

1.0 Organization Profile Jimiel Selmanovski & Abu Bakar

I am contacting you on behalf of The City of Toronto Water Services department. We work to
provide better solutions and create more efficient ways water is recycled within the City of
Toronto. We are proposing a change that could recycle toilet water, and turn it into drinking
water. We believe that this could change the way water is recycled and filtered in Toronto and
create a platform to reuse water in a positive way. The average Canadian uses about 329 litre s
of water per day. 30% of that being toilet water. We strongly believe that if this continues, we will
end up losing freshwater resources, and drinking water can be contaminated. With our system
we invented, it can recycle wastewater to highly purified water, providing a more cost-efficient
and eco-friendly solution. The concept of recycling wastewater certainly isnt something new,
with it already being done in Singapore, Israel, Spain, Sweden, Austria, and the US. With only 3
filtration plants across the province, we will be able to purify 500 million litres of toilet water per
day.

The report below outlines how our proposed filtration system can be beneficial to the City of
Toronto. Further, we have outlined how our filtration systems will impact Toronto through
technology, environment, economy, and ethics. We will be weighing the benefits and drawbacks
of this system, which will provide a fair assessment for you to decide.

Lemonick, S. (2013, January). Drinking toilet water: The science (and psychology) of
wastewater recycling. Retrieved November 06, 2016, from
http://www.earthmagazine.org/article/drinking-toilet-water-science-and-psychology-
wastewater-recycling
Mortillaro, N. (2016, October 30). This is how much water Canadians waste. Retrieved
November 06, 2016, from http://globalnews.ca/news/3016754/this-is-how-much-water-
canadians-waste/
Cho, R. (2011, April). From Wastewater to Drinking Water. Retrieved November 06,
2016, from http://blogs.ei.columbia.edu/2011/04/04/from-wastewater-to-drinking-water/

2.0 Recommendation Report Purpose and Problem Statement

Maulik Vora & Ahmed Al-Muqdadi
As of 2010, Canada ranks as one of the top 15 countries in the world for water wastage, with
580 billion liters of water wasted in the Ontario alone (The World Bank Group, 2010) and
approximately 24% this comes from toilet water (Great Lakes, 2010). With Toronto being
Canadas highest populated city, is the main priority for implementing new policies to help
reduce water wastage. By reusing water not only are we helping our planet and conserving
our water reserves but we are also setting an example for our future generations. With China
being the largest wastewater reuse and Qatar ranked first for per capita water reuse, these
countries have set a president for other countries to follow. A final recommendation report
will be delivered for you to recommend or reject this proposal at the end of this study.
Great Lakes, Wasted - Water Canada. (n.d.). Retrieved November 06, 2016, from
http://watercanada.net/2010/great-lakes-wasted/
RWL Water. (2013). Where Is the Greatest Water Reuse Being Practiced? | RWL Water.
Retrieved November 06, 2016, from https://www.rwlwater.com/where-biggest-water-
reuse-is-practiced/
The World Bank group. (2015). CO2 emissions (metric tons per capita). Retrieved from The
World Bank:
http://data.worldbank.org/indicator/EN.ATM.CO2E.PC?order=wbapi_data_value_2010+
wbapi_data_value+wbapi_data_valueRfirst&sort=desc

3.0 Perspectives and Proposed Sources

3.1 Technological Impacts: Jimiel Selmanovski
The City of Toronto Water Services department is always looking to change ways we recycle
and reuse water. Our water treatment plants have a huge technological impact of the industry
itself, and the end consumer but adding a new treatment plant could help us solve the water
waste issues we currently face. Technology can be very beneficial to solving world problems that
we all face. I will be focusing on three major technological impacts such as, the process to
recycle toilet water, the chemicals used in the filtration plants we currently have, and the pros
and cons of implementing a new water treatment facility. One of our main goals is to have the
City of Toronto recycle toilet water and turn it into drinking water. Our research will allow us to
modernize the way we recycle water, and save natural resources. The future of reusable water is
future to solving waste water and we are confident we can implement an impressive system.

Hardcastle, B. J. (2015, December 14). Environmental Leader. Retrieved November

18, 2016, from http://www.environmentalleader.com/2015/12/14/toilet-to-tap-wastewater-
recycling-takes-off-as-water-supplies-shrink/

3.2 Enviromental Impacts: Abu Bakar Abid

Water is one of Canadas most valuable natural resources. Canada has 20% of the worlds
freshwater resources, out of which only 7% is renewable. (Environment Canada, 2012). One of
the biggest environmental benefits of recycling toilet water is that it opens the door to reuse and
recycle over five hundred million liters of water every day, thereby immediately decreasing net
water disposal by nearly 40%. Another benefit would be that water filtration would remove many
of the potentially hazardous and often toxic waste improperly disposed-of through toilets and
household septic solutions. Water filtration plants also pose a negative environmental impact as
these huge plants often need to be close to large bodies of water, this could potentially destroy
the natural habitats for many species of plants and animals. (City Of Barrie, 2015). However,
further research must be done in order to properly understand the impacts that water filtration
has on the environment.

Frequently Asked Questions - Environment and Climate ... (2012, September 05).
Retrieved November 6, 2016, from https://www.ec.gc.ca/eau-
water/default.asp?lang=En&n=1C100657-1
How does sewage affect river ecosystems? | Water Matters. (2015, February 1).
Retrieved November 06, 2016, from http://www.water-matters.org/node/104
3.3 Economical Perspective: Ahmed Al-Muqdadi
Establishing such a project needs heavy funding. The main cost of this process is energy which
has been coming down recently and it is expected to continue going down.
According to report published on CNN, California has put $1 billion into funding recycling water
for portable use.
Considering a large city scale consists of 100,000 house, the amount of money each house pays
monthly for a sewer and a water connection plus the city monthly funding for those two systems
could easily fund one recycling plant.

From toilet to tap: Drinking recycled waste water. (n.d.). Retrieved November 02, 2016, from
http://www.cnn.com/2014/05/01/world/from-toilet-to-tap-water/index.html
Singh, D. (2015). Delhi government starts 'toilet to tap' project to turn sewage into clean
drinking water .
Retrieved November 02, 2016, from http://www.dailymail.co.uk/indiahome/indianews/article-
3279886/Delhi-government-starts-toilet-tap-project-turn-sewage-clean-drinking-
water.html
3.4 Business & Implementation Impacts: Maulik Vora
From implementation perspective for the City of Torontos water filtration, Ill discuss the
timelines and effectiveness of the system. By analyzing and surveying and building prototypes,
Ill identify the key similarities and differences of integrating the water filtration system while
comparing with major cities around the world.

I will be concentrating on the business aspects of this process but looking at both positive and
negative changes on the economy of needs and assessment. Moreover, Ill be talking about the
business model that will create, in order to make the filtration system more sustainable.
Following below are the steps to propose a business model:

Key Key Activities Value Customer Customer

Partners Proposition Relationships Segments

Key Channels
Resources

Cost Structure Revenue Streams

Bedford, D., & Morelli, J. (2006). Introducing information management into the workplace: A case
study in the implementation of business classification file plans from the sector skills
development agency. Records Management Journal, 16(3), 169175.
doi:10.1108/09565690610713228
Government of Canada project management (2015). Retrieved November 6, 2016,
from http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/hgw-cgf/oversight-surveillance/itpm-itgp/pm-gp/index-
eng.asp

3.5 Ethical Impacts: Joseph Pereira

Water is a basic necessity that is readily available all around the world. Over 71% of our planet is
water (Williams, 2016) and yet many countries do not have easy access to water. In Ontario, we
are currently faced with a water shortage problem. With rich land used for agriculture, an issue
with water supply affects everyone (Ontario Federation of Agriculture, n.d.) Ultimately, without
clean water, we cannot fulfill our daily tasks as it is an essential part of our lives. This also
impacts everyone because it would result in plastic water bottle consumption which would be
very costly and environmentally unfriendly. It is also worth mentioning that even with water being
inaccessible, lawyers use the concept of individual water rights that can be sold to someone
else (Water Culture, 2016).

Williams, M. (2016). What Percent of Earth is Water? - Universe Today. Retrieved October 28,
2016, from http://www.universetoday.com/65588/what-percent-of-earth-is-water/
Water Issues. (n.d.). Retrieved October 28, 2016, from
http://www.ofa.on.ca/issues/overview/water-issues.aspx
Water Culture. (2016). Cross-Sector Allocation. Retrieved November 16, 2016, from
http://www.waterculture.org/Cross-Sector_Allocation.html