EPA’s National Water Reuse Action Plan Makes Reuse a National Priority

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EPA’s National Water Reuse Action Plan Makes Reuse a National Priority

Foreword:

Advancing Water Reuse to Support Water Security, Sustainability, and Resilience Our economy, environment, and way of life depend on reliable supplies of clean and affordable water. With aging infrastructure, a growing population, and new challenges that stress our water supply, there is a growing urgency to secure our nation’s water future.

Screen Shot 2020-02-27 at 8.59.22 PM.pngThat is why I am excited to be issuing the National Water Reuse Action Plan: Collaborative Implementation (Version 1) on behalf of and with our federal, state, tribal, local and water sector partners. The Action Plan adopts a proactive approach to enhance and grow our partnerships with organizations across the country to improve the security, sustainability, and resilience of our nation’s water resources. The Action Plan builds on more than four decades of water reuse experience and practice in the United States. It frames the business case that water reuse is a viable and growing means of supporting our economy and improving the freshwater portfolio of farmers, industry, communities, and ecosystems. The Action Plan identifies 37 specific actions across 11 strategic themes to be led by a spectrum of federal, state, local, and private sector interests. It reflects new partnerships, generates action through more than 200 initial implementation milestones, and provides accountability through transparency and routine progress updates. Over the past year, the EPA has focused its efforts on catalyzing action related to water reuse, promoting strong collaboration across the water user community, and continuing an intentional dialogue surrounding water reuse. Twenty-eight different organizations have volunteered to lead and facilitate critical actions to advance the viability of water reuse, often with an array of partners. As we move forward to address the challenges of this and future generations, the EPA and our federal partners pledge to continue to lead and facilitate implementation of the Action Plan with state, tribal, and local partners, recognizing that long-term implementation will continue to adapt and evolve through robust collaboration. We thank all the action leaders, partners, and collaborators and encourage others to join the effort. This document release is not an end but rather another important step toward securing our water future. Together, we can make considerable progress as we move into a new era of collaborative action and accountability and ensure the security, sustainability, and resilience of our nation’s water resources.

Andrew R. Wheeler

Administrator U.S. Environmental Protection Agency

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EPA’s National Water Reuse Action Plan Makes Reuse a National Priority

Water Sector Organizations Collaborated on Plan to Accelerate Adoption of Water Reuse

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), alongside federal partners, releases the National Water Reuse Action Plan: Collaborative Implementation, a collection of bold actions developed in collaboration with water sector organizations that will reshape the way communities around the nation manage our most precious resource – water. The plan identifies 37 actions across 11 strategic themes to give communities tools to consider and adopt water reuse as part of an integrated water resources plan.

EPA announced its intent to facilitate the development of the National Water Reuse Action Plan (WRAP) one year ago on February 27, 2019. National water organizations including the WateReuse Association, American Water Works Association (AWWA), Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies (AMWA), National Association of Clean Water Agencies (NACWA), Water Environment Federation (WEF), and The Water Research Foundation (WRF) worked in partnership with utilities, businesses, and government to develop recommendations for the plan. 

“The WateReuse Association is pleased to have been an integral part of both developing the WRAP and planning for its implementation,” said WateReuse Association Executive Director Patricia Sinicropi. “We thank EPA for launching a national water reuse initiative, commend the entire federal family for their collaboration, and look forward to leading several of the actions identified in the plan.”

The WRAP identifies tools related to education, policy, technology development, research, and a variety of other mechanisms to increase the likelihood that more cities and states will consider incorporating water reuse into their water management strategy. 

“AWWA looks forward to collaborating with EPA and our many water sector partners in implementing the Water Reuse Action Plan,” said AWWA CEO David LaFrance. “Expanded water reuse, and particularly potable reuse, can be key in diversifying water resource portfolios, increasing resiliency and assuring safe and sustainable drinking water.” 

EPA along with other federal agencies such as the U.S. Departments of Energy and State and the U.S. Geological Survey, as well as national water associations will lead actions and collaborate on others to ensure implementation. Actions led by national water sector organizations include developing a database to track and report state-level policies and regulations, coordinating research, and workforce development.

“On a national scale, consideration of water reuse is essential to ensuring water resilience, security and sustainability,” said AMWA CEO Diane VanDe Hei. “AMWA applauds that the National Reuse Action Plan supports the necessary research to inform the key building blocks for public health protection in implementing potable reuse projects.”

Investment in water reuse builds communities that are modern, sustainable, and poised for economic growth. Recycled water is used coast-to-coast, including:

“NACWA is proud to have participated alongside a variety of stakeholders in the water sector as well as EPA in advancing the recommendations contained within the Water Reuse Action Plan. Ensuring cooperation among all stakeholders on reuse is the key to achieving the ambitious goals developed by this diverse coalition. NACWA looks forward to advancing the reuse initiatives unveiled today,” said NACWA CEO Adam Krantz.

In the U.S., about 340 billion gallons of water per day are discharged from sources including municipal wastewater, industry process water, and agriculture runoff. Water reuse, also known as water recycling, captures water from a variety of sources and cleans it for a designated beneficial freshwater purpose such as drinking, industrial processes, surface or ground water replenishment, and watershed restoration. 

“It is absolutely vital to increase and diversify the practice of water reuse to enable our communities and country to have a sustainable water future,” said WEF President Jackie Jarrell. “The leadership and resources of U.S. EPA and other federal agencies is essential to advancing water reuse on a national scale and WEF looks forward to collaboration on this shared priority.”

Eighty percent of U.S. states anticipate a strain in their water supplies over the next decade. Water reuse provides alternatives to existing water supplies and enhances water security, sustainability, and resilience.

“Research on water reuse is central to our One Water mission of advancing the science of water to improve the quality of life,” said WRF CEO Peter Grevatt. “The Water Research Foundation is looking forward to working with the US EPA and other partners on the development of a water reuse research roadmap to build on our $30 million investment into research related to direct potable reuse.” 

The National Water Reuse Action Plan makes diversifying the nation’s water portfolio a national priority. With continued collaboration among public and private partners in implementing this plan, the U.S. could recycle as much as 80% of all water within 50 years.

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