How Food & Beverage Manufacturers Can Cut Hidden Water Costs with Smarter Pump Control

As regulatory and environmental pressures reshape the water industry, food and beverage (F&B) manufacturers face mounting operational and compliance costs. Torben Poulsen, Business Development Manager for Pumps and Drives at ABB Motion, outlines how intelligent speed control in pumps using variable speed drives (VSDs) delivers both financial and environmental returns.

Why Water Costs Are Rising in the Food & Beverage Industry

In the food and beverage sector, where water is woven into every stage of production — from raw material handling to sanitation — improving efficiency and control over water use has become not just a sustainability goal, but a business imperative.

Regulatory Changes Under Ofwat PR24

In recent years, the financial burden of water use has risen sharply, with increases across 2024 ranging from 10% to 50% in parts of in Europe. In the UK, evolving regulation under Ofwat’s 2024 Price Review (PR24) framework has added more scrutiny and cost to both water sourcing and discharge. Disposing of wastewater is getting more expensive too, due in large part to higher discharge tariffs and stricter quality standards.

Water Tariff Increases and Discharge Pressures

For manufacturers producing water-intensive goods like beer, dairy, or soft drinks, the stakes are particularly high. Brewing a single litre of beer, for example, can require up to nine litres of water. Reducing water use alone often isn't feasible when hygiene, flavour and product consistency are on the line. The smarter long-term solution lies in optimising how that water is treated, moved and reused around the facility, without disrupting operations or compromising process integrity.

Water treatment: a growing global priority

The global water and wastewater treatment market for the food and beverage sector is expanding at nearly 7% CAGR and is set to exceed $78 billion by 2030. This shift is driven in part by the need for customised, site-specific treatment approaches that reflect the variability of source water quality.

Many F&B operations tap directly into natural supplies such as lakes, rivers, or underground aquifers. But each of these sources comes with its own treatment challenges. Groundwater typically requires minimal processing, while surface water often contains more organic and particulate matter, needing advanced chemical, biological and mechanical stages before it meets food-grade standards.

“In the food and beverage sector, where water is woven into every stage of production — from raw material handling to sanitation — improving efficiency and control over water use has become not just a sustainability goal, but a business imperative.”

Other producers rely on municipal or third-party industrial water providers, which simplifies intake treatment. But the water still often requires polishing or conditioning to meet exacting production specifications.

In both scenarios, the pressure is on facilities to deliver consistent, high-quality water with minimum waste and energy input. This is where precision control systems such as variable speed drives come into play.

Precision and energy savings

At the heart of efficient water and wastewater operations is the ability to control fluid movement with flexibility and finesse. For example, the ABB ACQ580 drive, designed specifically for water industry applications, lets operators fine-tune pump operations in real time based on flow needs, pressure conditions, or process stage.

VSDs allow pumps, blowers and other motor-driven equipment to operate at the exact speed needed for a specific task. In breweries or dairy facilities, that means adjusting water pressure and volume instantly during rinsing, filling, or sanitation. Matching motor performance to process demand eliminates wasted energy and minimises mechanical strain to extend equipment life.

Additional protection features like dry-run detection automated flow control helps prevent cavitation, pipe bursts and pump overload, while also making operations more resilient against supply fluctuations or system shocks.

Smart dosing and coagulation control

Coagulation, one of the earliest stages of water treatment, relies on the precise mixing of chemicals like alum to bind fine particles suspended in water, making them easier to remove downstream. With intelligent metering systems driven by VSD-equipped pumps, manufacturers can deliver just the right amount of coagulant based on real-time turbidity or flow rates.

“For manufacturers producing water-intensive goods like beer, dairy, or soft drinks, the stakes are particularly high. Brewing a single litre of beer, for example, can require up to nine litres of water.”

This feedback-driven approach reduces chemical overuse, lowers costs and avoids introducing excess treatment agents into the system. At the same time, it enhances the efficiency of flocculation, the next stage: where those small, coagulated particles are gently stirred and aggregated into larger “flocs.”

Again, maintaining consistent, slow agitation speeds is critical. Too much turbulence and the flocs disintegrate; too little and the process stalls. Variable speed mixers bring that delicate balance within reach.

Energy-efficient aeration and disinfection

After solid materials are settled or filtered out, aeration helps prepare water for final polishing steps like UV filtration or carbon absorption. Aerators, which are often the most power-hungry devices in the treatment line, inject oxygen into the water to support biological reduction of contaminants and odours.

Whether using surface paddle units or submerged air diffusers, these systems are particularly well suited to VSD integration. Drives respond to differential pressure and oxygen measurements to vary compressor speed or air volume.

Not only does this reduce electricity use, but it also reduces vibration and therefore lowers maintenance frequency. The latter could be a consideration in plants with tight hygiene controls or limited space for service works to occur.

Pressurisation and booster pump control

Clean water doesn’t just sit idle; it must be routed with consistent pressure throughout the plant. Booster systems ensure that sufficient flow reaches production lines, cleaning stations, or heating and cooling circuits. ABB’s Intelligent Pump Control (IPC) system allows multiple pumps to run in coordinated sequences, switching units on or off according to real-time demand.

This rotation minimises wear, balances energy load and provides automatic standby switching if one unit fails, which keeps water available even in the event of mechanical issues. Unlike systems that rely on a single oversized pump throttled down to low capacity (an energy-wasting configuration), IPC allows users to operate smaller, more efficient pumps intelligently, adapting to fluctuating flow rates quickly and cost-effectively.

Handling sludge and wastewater with confidence

At the end of the line, wastewater and its solid byproducts must be treated to stringent standards before being discharged or recycled. This adds yet another area where smart motor control simplifies complex handling.

“Optimised water and wastewater management enables producers to stay competitive. With smarter control systems in place, the F&B industry can treat water not just as an input, but as a managed asset — keeping both costs and carbon footprints in check.”

The sludge produced during sedimentation or biological treatment is usually thick and prone to clogging lines or damaging pumps. ABB ACQ580 VSDs allow operators to match pump speed to sludge viscosity or output volume, avoiding blockages while keeping throughput high.

In more advanced dewatering operations using centrifuges, VSDs also enable torque control, start/stop energy recovery and acceleration ramping — preventing shock loads and reducing total power draw.

Smart water use is smart business

For food and beverage producers operating under growing pressure to reduce utility costs and meet sustainability benchmarks, water process improvement is one of the most impactful changes they can make. From intake and filtration to booster pumping and effluent handling, advanced VSDs and intelligent control systems are transforming the way facilities manage water.

By gaining granular control over each stage of water processing and adjusting dynamically to process changes, producers can ensure efficiency and environmental compliance. Drives engineered specifically for harsh and wet conditions must be the cornerstone of both new treatment infrastructures and retrofit upgrades.

Optimised water and wastewater management enables producers to stay competitive. With smarter control systems in place, the F&B industry can treat water not just as an input, but as a managed asset — keeping both costs and carbon footprints in check.

FAQs: How to Reduce Hidden Water Costs in the UK Food & Beverage Industry

Why are water costs increasing for food and beverage manufacturers?
Water and wastewater charges are rising due to tighter environmental regulations (such as Ofwat’s PR24 in the UK), increasing tariffs, and the growing cost of energy used in treatment and transport.

What is Ofwat PR24 and how does it affect manufacturers?
Ofwat’s PR24 is a regulatory framework introducing stricter performance expectations for water use and discharge. It increases scrutiny on industrial water consumption and pushes up the price of both supply and wastewater treatment.

How can food and beverage plants manage water more efficiently?
By integrating variable speed drives (VSDs) into pump systems, facilities can dynamically adjust flow, pressure and energy use based on real-time demand, significantly improving efficiency and reducing operating costs.

What role do variable speed drives play in water savings?
VSDs allow pumps and motors to run at the exact speed needed for each process stage—reducing energy use, preventing equipment wear and optimising water and chemical dosing.

Can VSDs help with water treatment quality too?
Yes. VSDs enable precise control over key stages like coagulation, flocculation, aeration and disinfection – ensuring accurate chemical dosing, ideal agitation speeds, and energy-efficient aerator operation.

How does smarter pump control reduce discharge costs?
Efficient sludge handling and wastewater pumping via VSDs reduces blockages, wear and energy use. It ensures that treated effluent meets regulatory discharge standards, avoiding penalties and surcharges.

Are these systems suitable for retrofits or only new plants?
Advanced pump and drive systems like ABB’s ACQ580 and IPC can be retrofitted to existing infrastructure or installed in new treatment lines, enabling modern water efficiency without requiring full system overhauls.

What’s the overall business benefit of smart pump control?
Optimising water use and treatment helps F&B manufacturers reduce energy bills, meet ESG targets, avoid compliance issues, and treat water as a reusable, cost-controlled asset—not just a consumable.