In an era defined by water scarcity and increasing pressure on natural resources, the wine industry faces an unavoidable challenge: redefining its relationship with water. Every liter of wine requires between 3 and 5 liters of water to be produced, considering equipment washing, fermentation, facility cleaning, and temperature control. This water dependency, in a context of climate change, prolonged droughts, and stricter regulations, turns water reuse into a strategic opportunity—not only environmental, but also operational and reputational.
This project, located in a renowned winery in Mendoza (Argentina), delivers a bold and replicable response: recovering and reusing water used in cleaning operations, filtering it through physical, chemical, and biological processes adapted to the winery environment, and reintroducing it for non-potable uses within the production cycle. The approach not only reduces the need for fresh water abstraction by more than 40%, but also significantly decreases discharges into the environment and helps preserve the region’s overexploited aquifers. Technically, it uses a hybrid treatment system composed of flotation-based separation, particle filtration, disinfection, and subsequent physical-chemical and microbiological monitoring, ensuring operational safety and traceability.
The project’s rationale lies in the structural pressure faced by the Mendoza River basin, main source for irrigation and urban supply, which demands urgent reduction in water footprint from productive sectors. In this scenario, the project not only anticipates future regulatory restrictions but also aligns with the Water Positive vision: transforming each cubic meter of water consumed into a regeneration opportunity. Traceability is ensured through digital flow meters at inlet and outlet points, certified laboratory analyses, and periodic audits, fully complying with the principles of additionality (an action that would not occur without the project), traceability (physical tracking of the resource), and intentionality (specifically designed to generate measurable water benefits under VWBA 2.0, Method A-2).
Led by the winery itself alongside a local technology integrator, with external validation from a VWBA consultant, the project tells an inspiring story: a wine born from water that is cared for, recovered, and reused, without compromising quality or authenticity. The wine industry thus becomes not just a witness to climate change, but a protagonist in its mitigation.
The solution presented here addresses a critical strategic question: how to keep producing high-quality wine without depleting the territory’s water resources? The project implements a modular water treatment and reuse system capable of recovering up to 80% of the volume used in equipment, floor, and tank cleaning, for reuse in secondary cleaning, irrigation of green areas, or even closed-loop cooling systems. This recovery amounts to over 15,000 m³ annually, the equivalent of the yearly drinking water consumption of 120 households.
The main technical problem today is the intensive use of fresh water in low-value-added tasks, often sourced from stressed surface water channels or wells extracting above permitted limits. This creates economic losses due to rising tariffs, regulatory risks from discharge compliance failures, and reputational liabilities in front of increasingly aware consumers. Causes range from traditional inefficient practices, to regulatory constraints on industrial reuse, to lack of modular infrastructure adapted to small and medium-sized wineries.
The intervention’s impact is scalable: in the short term, it cuts operating costs and dependence on external water; in the medium term, it improves the plant’s overall water efficiency and reduces liquid waste generation; and in the long term, it strengthens production resilience in the face of climate crises or extreme droughts. The solution can be easily adapted to other wine-producing regions worldwide, from Spain’s La Rioja to Chile’s Maipo Valley, through adjustments in flow rates and water composition.
This model can be led by any winery seeking to achieve a Water Positive standard and anticipate future regulations. Through partnerships with technology providers and VWBA project developers, wineries can not only meet ESG targets but also become benchmarks for sustainable innovation, expanding markets and building a powerful brand narrative: every glass of wine as a symbol of water circularity and territorial commitment.
The implemented solution is a modular physical-electronic treatment system (chemical-free) that allows water to be recovered and reused within the same operation. It is especially effective in coastal contexts such as Valparaíso, Chile, where wineries face challenges related to seasonal scarcity, aquifer salinization, and stricter environmental regulations.
The technology operates through the generation of high-frequency pulses that induce molecular resonance in microorganisms and organic compounds present in the wastewater. This process alters cellular and chemical structures, deactivating pathogens and breaking down organic matter without modifying the water’s mineral properties or leaving residues. The operation is continuous, automatic, and requires only electrical power, allowing for stable control and very low maintenance.
In the context of Valparaíso, where many wineries depend on wells or rural drinking water connections in semi-arid zones, this solution enables more than 50% reduction in water withdrawal for cleaning. It also improves wineries’ capacity to comply with discharge standards set by the Superintendence of the Environment and lowers costs associated with transportation or external treatment of effluents.
The treated water is intended for non-critical tasks such as floor washing, harvest tray cleaning, or external equipment cleaning, thus freeing up higher-quality water for enological or sanitary uses. This resource use hierarchy, supported by a chemical-free treatment system, represents an advanced water efficiency strategy with high replicability potential throughout the Aconcagua Valley and other productive zones of central Chile’s coast.
The implemented system comprises a wastewater collection unit from the winery’s cleaning processes, connected to an inline physical-electronic treatment module. This technology is based on the application of high-frequency electromagnetic fields that induce resonance in water molecules and their contaminants, enabling the deactivation of microorganisms (yeasts, bacteria, fungi) and the breakdown of organic molecular chains without generating chemical by-products or altering the ionic composition of the treated water.
The solution operates fully automatically, with integrated sensors that measure key parameters such as flow, pressure, conductivity, temperature, and turbidity, sending data to a remote monitoring platform with historical recording and operational alert capacity. The system also includes a closed recirculation loop that redistributes treated water to defined use points for non-critical cleaning tasks within the winery, such as floor washing, agricultural tool rinsing, harvest trays, or outdoor areas.
Thanks to its compact and modular design, the technology adapts to tight spaces and does not require major civil works or additional structures, facilitating its implementation in medium-sized facilities in regions with physical or regulatory limitations for large-scale interventions.
Monitoring plan
Monitoring is performed at several levels:
Partnerships or implementing actors
This project proposes to comprehensively transform water management in a winery located in the Valparaíso Region of Chile through the implementation of an advanced technological solution for water reuse. This solution is based on the on-site treatment of water used during cleaning tasks, allowing its recovery and subsequent recirculation without the need for chemical additives.
The intervention takes place in the Aconcagua River Basin, one of the most affected by water stress in central Chile, where aquifers have undergone progressive degradation due to overexploitation, declining precipitation, and reduced snow accumulation. This scenario is compounded by increasing regulatory pressure from environmental and health authorities, requiring productive actors to adopt more efficient and sustainable management models.
The process begins with the collection of wastewater generated during the cleaning of equipment, tanks, and processing areas. These waters, which contain traces of organic matter (must, yeasts, anthocyanins), are directed to a physical-electronic treatment unit that operates by generating high-frequency electromagnetic fields. These fields induce molecular resonance phenomena that deactivate pathogenic agents and break down organic structures without altering the saline composition or the temperature of the water.
The system operates continuously, is compact, does not require reagents, and produces no residual sludge. It is fully automated for integration with remote monitoring platforms. The treated water is then reused for non-critical tasks such as washing floors, carts, harvest trays, or patios, while higher quality water is reserved exclusively for enological processes. This resource use hierarchy allows for internal operational optimization and reduces pressure on the source of water withdrawal.
The implemented solution enables a reduction of between 50% and 70% in water extraction for cleaning purposes, significantly lowers discharge volumes, and improves regulatory compliance, while also strengthening the company’s environmental reputation among customers, regulators, and the community. In addition, its integration with water traceability platforms such as Aqua Positive allows for the quantification and registration of Volumetric Water Benefits (VWBs), enabling their future valorization as water credits or as direct contributions to corporate targets under frameworks such as the Science-Based Targets for Nature.
