The US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently released the draft of the National Water Reuse Action Plan in recognition of the water shortages the country is currently confronting and is predicted to face in the future.  The plan outlines the benefits of water reuse that have already been effectively demonstrated across the in agriculture, industrial cooling, ecosystem replenishment, landscape irrigation, and toilet flushing water.  In short, water reuse enhances water security on a national and global level. Water reclamation, or reuse, can significantly impact the availability of water resources throughout the country and assist with threats of drought.  The purpose […]

As cities across the country continue to experience growth, the obvious question for many is whether the existing resources, such as the water supply, are sufficient to support the growth.  Many cities are growing so rapidly that they overload the available water resources.  How do you support growth in locations that face water scarcity on a regular basis, like a desert? Chandler, Arizona, located in the Sonoran Desert and considered a suburb of Phoenix, has demonstrated the ability to navigate water scarcity with the power of foresight. As the city has grown, planners have considered the importance of water availability […]

L.A.’s mayor, Eric Garcetti, recently outlined the city’s bold plan to recycle 100 percent of its wastewater by 2035 and subsequently reduce the amount of water presently imported.  Although three out of the four wastewater facilities currently recycle 100 percent of their wastewater, the largest facility, Hyperion, which collects 81 percent of the city’s total wastewater, only recycles 27 percent.  This equates to only 2 percent of the city’s water supply coming from recycled water.  The mayor’s administration says that figure can reach 35 percent if the city would use the effluent that is currently dumped into the ocean to […]

  California is one step closer to making it easier for wineries and breweries in the state to have onsite use and treatment of recycled water.  State Senator Scott Wiener recently proposed a bill that would create the regulations necessary for the industries to treat and reuse water onsite.  According to SF Bay News, the regulations would be developed by the State Water Board in collaboration with the California Department of Public Heath’s Food and Drug Branch and “would require water quality monitoring, notification and public information requirements, and reporting annually to the CDPH.”[1] The use of water in wineries […]

In the United States, we often talk about increased concerns about water shortages, but we are not alone in this predicament.  According to the World Health Organization, in 2017, “Over two billion people worldwide lack[ed] access to safe drinking water.”[1]  Many countries live with circumstances much more dire than the United States.  Israel, a country whose landscape is 70 percent desert, has found a way to successfully navigate the challenges of living in such conditions by treating and reusing 90 percent of its wastewater. Of course, Israel’s situation is very different from that of the U.S. politically, geographically and socially.  […]