WATER IS NOW ONE OF THE MOST EXPENSIVE INGREDIENTS IN PRODUCING CONCRETE READY-MIX

October 8, 2019

For some areas of the country, water is now the most expensive material per unit cost to produce a yard of concrete.  For a medium sized (20 mixer trucks) Dry Concrete Batch Plant in California, the average monthly water bill is $10,000.  Factor in the typical foot print of 25,000 square feet (avg $7/sqft) of area to manage, contain and recycle the process water into fresh concrete, water costs can have a major impact on the profitability of a yard of concrete produced.  Compounding the cost of water is a potential water discharge violation that can cost up to six figures plus clean-up.  Climate change and drought restrcitions are also having a direct effect to daily production.  A few summers ago while traveling through Reno NV, I met a Wet Plant operator, who the City had restricted his daily production rate to 150 yards of concrete.  This is in contrast to his average summer daily production rate of 1,500 yards of concrete.

Fortunately State agency’s continue to pass new regulations allowing the re-use of process water into fresh concrete.  Concrete Reclaimers and Water Filtration technology advancements continue to be incorporated into existing and new concrete batch plant facility’s.