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The United States Environmental Protection Agency (“EPA”) released on February 27th a document titled:
National Water Reuse Action Plan: Collaborative Implementation (Version 1) (“Action Plan”)
The Action Plan is described as identifying:
. . . action leaders, partners, implementation milestones, and target completion dates for 37 actions across 11 strategic themes.
The Action Plan is intended to be a coordinated and collaborative effort involving the water user community to address water use and ensure the security, sustainability, and resilience of United States water resources.
The Action Plan notes that discussions of water reuse commonly include terms such as:
- Recycled water
- Reclaimed water
- Purified water
- Alternative water supplies
- Improved water availability
- Water resource recovery
Sources of water for potential reuse are stated to include:
- Municipal waste water
- Industry processing cooling water
- Stormwater (including captured rainwater)
- Agricultural runoff and return flows
- Oil and gas produced wastewater
Such sources are considered reused after they are assessed for a new use and treated and verified to meet the appropriate applicable fit-for-purpose specifications (i.e., protection of public health) for the end use application.
Examples of reuse applications include:
- Agriculture and irrigation
- Potable water supplies
- Groundwater storage and recharge
- Industrial processes and cooling
- Onsite non-potable use
- Salt water intrusion barriers
- Environmental respiration
The Action Plan provides 11 guiding principles:
- Protect public health.
- Protect the environment and ecosystem health.
- Promote action based on leadership, partnership, and collaboration.
- Build on past experiences.
- Identify the most impactful actions.
- Recognize distinct challenges posed by water reuse.
- Consider water reuse in an integrated water resources management framework
- Defer to state (cooperative federalism) and local issues and considerations.
- Commit to implementation through transparency and shared accountability.
- Communicate effectively.
- Apply adaptive management and governance.
A link to the Action Plan can be found here.
