Water Conservation

Since 2000, EMC’s onsite water treatment plant has been supporting the company’s Massachusetts-based engineering facilities—and saving millions of gallons of water each year through recycling.

How the plant works

The plant uses self-distributed (rather than municipal) water systems to return clean water to the local ecosystem. It is one of the first major commercial projects in Massachusetts to reclaim "gray" treated wastewater from buildings and process equipment—then reuse it for cooling and sanitary purposes.

Water is treated three times before reuse. The third stage uses a state-of-the-art ultraviolet-light purification process rather than traditional chlorination. It's effective and environmentally friendly. And it completely eliminates the need for onsite chlorine storage.

The plant has capacity to treat 83,500 gallons per day via a sequential batch reactor system. The company can reclaim 100 percent of water—most of which is continually recycled to support mechanical systems. Although the water is clean enough to drink, people do not come in contact with it.

During the plant’s construction, EMC applied the same focus on quality and reliability that it devotes to manufacturing its information storage systems. The treatment plant was built to operate around the clock—to support EMC’s R&D labs which operate around the clock. It features the same proactive alarms that EMC uses in our factories, and even has phone-home and component-failover capabilities, for the same kind of total reliability and uptime that we provide our customers.

"Zero discharge" closed loop systems

Our Franklin, Massachusetts manufacturing facility uses closed-loop water systems in process-cleaning areas and materials laboratories. This eliminates wastewater discharges, conserving over 200,000 gallons a year.

Environmentally friendly cleaning products

To extend its environmental accountability, EMC janitorial, cafeteria, and other suppliers use environmentally friendly products—especially those used in cleaning that could end up in any surrounding wastewater streams.