Improving the water efficiency of dairies

We’re helping Danish dairies become more water efficient.

Dairy production requires large amounts of water – typical from one to four litres, depending on the type of product and technology applied. The Danish Nature Agency (under the Danish Ministry of Environment) wants to support measures that reduce the amount of water consumed by dairies in the country. To help them do this, we will examine cheese production at five large- and medium-sized dairies in Denmark and investigate the possibility of reducing their fresh groundwater intake by 10-20%.

Palle Lindgaard-Jørgensen (Senior Consultant, DHI Denmark) is the project manager. In addition to overseeing the entire project, which includes 20 other partners, we will:

• map water use
• aid in technology development
• identify feasible technologies
• monitor activities to document results
• disseminate project information to both the dairy industry and the wider public

Over the course of the two-year project, we will also examine the framework conditions for water re-use in dairy production. This includes examining the possibility of re-using milk water (water taken out during the milk production process) as well determining the conditions for its re-use.

The knowledge generated by this project will be used by the dairy industry to make their dairies more water efficient.