Potable Water Reuse: A Water Supply Option That’s SustainableThe reliability of water supplies in the arid and semi-arid Mountain States is a ...
Published on by Water Network Research, Official research team of The Water Network
The reliability of water supplies in the arid and semi-arid Mountain States is a growing concern for the public and the engineering community in the wake of persistent drought and a multiyear downward trend in Colorado River flow and storage. Robust snowpack in early 2023 brought a welcome reprieve, but one good year cannot overcome decades of drought.
Today, potable water reuse—purifying recycled water to drinking water standards—is a viable strategy for maximizing the efficient use of available water supplies. In November 2022, the Colorado Dept. of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) completed a multiyear regulatory development process with formal approval of a new direct potable reuse (DPR) rule in the state’s drinking water regulation. DPR recaptures reclaimed water and purifies it at an advanced water purification facility without first discharging it to an “environmental buffer,” such as a stream or aquifer. Colorado’s DPR rule is the nation’s first comprehensive regulation to authorize DPR. While there are federal-level regulations for drinking water, states are responsible for regulating all types of water reuse. Colorado utilities can now evaluate DPR implementation costs and requirements with certainty, facilitating informed planning and decisions about future water supply portfolios.
DPR is one of many tools in the water supply toolbox. Water resource decisions are necessarily influenced by supply and demand dynamics, community values and priorities as well as technical, managerial and financial capacities. Moreover, the ability to recycle water can be limited by water rights considerations linked to the water’s source.
CDPHE deserves high praise for developing the DPR rule and the inclusive process they led to hone its details. The DPR rule provides for public health protection with implementation flexibility and adaptability appropriate for inland water utilities. Process trains using reverse osmosis (RO) are allowed under the rule, but alternate technologies are also permitted.
The concentrated brine produced by RO can be challenging to dispose of without access to an ocean outfall, and disposing of this waste can result in permanent loss of 15% to 20% of the water we seek to preserve through reuse.
Attached link
https://www.enr.com/articles/56496-potable-water-reuse-a-water-supply-option-thats-sustainableTaxonomy
- Water Reuse & Recycling
- Reuse
- Recycling and reuse
- Domestic Water Use