THE USE OF WATER IN THE WINERY
On average, to produce 1L of wine we need 1L of water. This is an estimate since some companies may even use 1.5L for each liter of wine produced.
water is mainly used to wash:
- Tools and machineries like de-stemmers, presses, pumps and hoses
- Vases made of steel, concrete, wood
- Flooring, carts, backyard areas
- Bottles before wine is bottled
From 60 to 80% of the water is actually used during the harvest. This water is collected in ducts and sewers.
A small amount of water is used to make up for auxiliary products to be used for the harvest. A small quantity of water is used in the heating and cooling systems (especially in the glycol unit whose freezing has to be prevented).
FEATURES OF THE WASTEWATER
Wastewater, which is the water already used in the winery is not pure in essence and, according to the reasons it has been used for, it shows different features.
Wastewater contains the substances it takes from the compounds it has gotten in contact with so:
- Substances from grapes (including anticryptogamics from the treatments and sprayings), yeasts (from the winemaking), bacteria (from the grapes). In this category, we can also find chemical compounds like sugars, alcohol, tannins, antocyanins, organic acids, salts and tartrates
- Substances from the processing of the grapes and the auxiliary products so some forms of sulphur dioxide, residual lees containing metals
- Substances containing surfactants and soaps from the cleaning of the vases and barrels