Where does Seattle Steam get its water to create steam?
• Seattle Steam purchases water from Seattle Public Utilities and is a large consumer of water. To help offset that usage, Seattle Steam is able to produce seven percent of its own water. This occurs because natural gas is high in hydrogen, which combines with O2 during combustion to actually produce water. Seattle Steam captures much of that water, along with the heat from the flue gas, before releasing it up the stack. Approximately 97 percent of the water delivered to Seattle Steam is fed through the system directly to its customers. Once steam is used as energy, the customer can either discharge the condensate to the sewer or re-use. Seattle Steam actively encourages its customers to recycle and re-use the condensate in other areas, such as laundry and landscape watering. The company is working with the City to encourage more customers to re-use the condensate in their operations.
