By Caigan McKenzie NESC Staff Writer

Layout by Chris Metzgar Graphic Designer

roughts, explosive population growth in arid parts of

the country, and the continuing
view that water is an infinite
resource are reasons for water
shortages in many areas across
the nation. In response to this
problem, some wastewater
professionals are reusing treated wastewater and have found
it to be a reliable alternative
water source.
In addition to conserving
highly treated, expensive
drinking water, wastewater
reuse reduces the release of
nutrient-rich wastewater into
environmentally stressed
streams and rivers.
Wastewater can be viewed
as a resource, fresh water containing plant nutrients (nitrogen,
phosphorus, and potassium),
says John Sheaffer, Ph.D., president, Sheaffer International, Ltd.,
Naperville, Illinois. In the
groundwater, these nutrients are
a pollutant, but on a growing
crop or turf, they are a resource.
When wastewater is reused, it is
not available to pollute the
groundwater supply.

What is wastewater reuse?

The term wastewater reuse is
often used synonymously with
the terms wastewater recycling
and wastewater reclamation.
Because the general public often
does not understand the quality
difference between treated and
untreated wastewater, many communities have shortened the term
46

On Tap Winter 2005

to water reuse, which creates a

more positive image.
The U.S. Environmental
Protection Agency (EPA) defines
wastewater reuse as, using
wastewater or reclaimed water
from one application for another
application. The deliberate use of
reclaimed water or wastewater
must be in compliance with
applicable rules for a beneficial
purpose (landscape irrigation,
agricultural irrigation, aesthetic
uses, ground water recharge,
industrial uses, and fire protection). A common type of recycled
water is water that has been
reclaimed from municipal wastewater (sewage).

Reasons for Wastewater Reuse

The most common reasons for
establishing a wastewater reuse
program is to identify new water
sources for increased water
demand and to find economical
ways to meet increasingly more
stringent discharge standards.

Types of Reuse
Wastewater reuse can be
grouped into the following
categories:
Urban reusethe irrigation
of public parks, school yards,
highway medians, and residential landscapes, as well as
for fire protection and toilet
flushing in commercial and
industrial buildings.
Agricultural reuseirrigation of nonfood crops, such
as fodder and fiber, commercial nurseries, and pasture

lands. High-quality
reclaimed water is used
to irrigate food crops.
Recreational impoundmentssuch as ponds
and lakes.
Environmental reuse
creating artificial wetlands,
enhancing natural wetlands, and sustaining
stream flows.
Industrial reuseprocess
or makeup water and
cooling tower water.

Guidelines and Regulations

In 1992, EPA developed
Guidelines for Water Reuse,
a comprehensive, technical
document. Some of the information contained in this manual
includes a summary of state
reuse requirements, guidelines
for treating and reusing water,
key issues in evaluating wastewater reuse opportunities, and
case studies illustrating legal
issues, such as water rights,
that affect wastewater reuse.
EPA guidelines for three
of the more common types
of wastewater reuse are given
in the table on page 47.

State Guidelines Vary

Many states have guidelines
or regulations for the design
and operation of wastewater
reuse facilities, but wide discretion in interpreting EPAs guidelines has resulted in standards
that differ significantly across
the states. For instance, Texas
prohibits using recycled water

Reuse Table
Types of Reuse
Urban Reuse
Landscape irrigation,
vehicle washing, toilet
flushing, fire protection,
commercial air
conditioners, and other
uses with similar access
or exposure to the water.

Agricultural Reuse
For Non-Food Crops
Pasture for milking
animals; fodder, fiber and
seed crops.

Indirect Potable Reuse

Groundwater recharge by
spreading into potable
aquifiers.

Treatment
1

Reclaimed Water
Quality

Reclaimed Water
Monitoring

Setback
Distances

Secondary
Filtration2
Disinfection3

pH = 69
<10 mg/L biochemical
oxygen demand (BOD)
< 2 turbidity units (NTU)5
No detectable fecal
coliform/100 mL4
1 mg/L chlorine (Cl2)
residual (min.)

pH weekly
BOD weekly
Turbidity continuous
Coliform daily
Cl2 residual
continuous

50 ft (15 m) to
potable water
supply wells

Secondary
Disinfection

pH = 69
< 30 mg/L BOD
< 30 mg/L total
suspended solids (TSS)
< 200 fecal coliform/100 mL5
1 mg/L Cl2 residual
(min.)

pH weekly
BOD weekly
TSS daily
Coliform daily
Cl2 residual
continuous

300 feet (90 m)

to potable water
supply wells

Site specific
Secondary and
disinfection (min.)
May also need
filtration and/or
advanced
wastewater
treatment

Site specific
Meet drinking water
standards after
percolation through
vadose zone.

pH daily
Turbidity continuous
Coliform daily
Cl2 residual continuous
Drinking water standards
quarterly
Other depends on
constituent

100 ft (30 m) to
areas accessible
to the public (if
spray irrigation)
site specific

Community Health
Protection
In any reuse system,
protecting public health
is critical. Human exposure to disease-causing
organisms or other contaminants in treated effluent could cause serious
public health problems.
For this reason, wastewater that could come
in contact with the public
is treated at the tertiary
level, which removes most
of the original pollutants.
The most common disinfectants used to remove
or inactivate pathogenic
organisms are chlorine,
ultraviolet light, and ozone.

Public Education

Education is key to
overcoming public fears
about a reuse system,
particularly fears that
1
Secondary treatment processes include activated sludge processes, trickling filters, rotating biological contactors, and
relate to public health
many stabilization pond systems. Secondary treatment should produce effluent in which both the BOD and TSS do no
exceed 30 mg/L.
and water quality. A
2
broad, in-depth public
Filtration means passing the effluent through natural undisturbed soil or filter media such as sand and/or anthracite.
3
relations program and a
Disinfection means the destruction, inactivation or removal of pathogenic microorganisms. It may be accomplished by
demonstration project are
chlorination, or other chemical disinfectants, UV radiation or other processes.
4
especially helpful when
The number of fecal coliform organisms should not exceed 14/100 mL in any sample.
the reuse project is the
5
The number of fecal coliform organisms should not exceed 800/100 mL in any sample.
first of its kind in the
Source: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. 1992. Guidelines for Water Reuse. (EPA)/625/R-92/004.
state, says Curtis Stultz,
assistant superintendent,
Wastewater Treatment Plant for
Weve used it to make artificial the City of Woodburn, Oregon.
to irrigate food crops while New
Mexico allows surface irrigation of snow and to spray irrigate a
The public can either be your
couple of golf courses, Mussel- ally or your worst nightmare.
food crops where there is no conman reports. In each instance,
tact between the edible portion of
Our citizens backed our project,
the states Department of
the crop and the treated wastebut another Oregon community
Environmental Protections
water. Some states, Pennsylvania
wasnt as fortunate, Stultz says.
regional office oversaw the
for instance, are just beginning to
Their treatment plant wanted
project. Basically, we used a
look at wastewater reuse.
to create a plantation of hybrid
high-quality effluent for these
Recent droughts in the waterpoplar trees where it could disprojects, so the end result was
rich state of Pennsylvania have
charge some of its treated indusa positive one.
prompted water agencies to investitrial wastewater. The plantation
Our major problem right
gate wastewater reuse. We are
site was small, and the homenow is the lack of agreement
starting to prepare an internal posiowner who lived next to the site
among the regions about the
tion paper on wastewater reuse for
had concerns about the project.
required level of treatment
management review, says Roger
Misconceptions about the treatbefore reuse. Some regions
Musselman, chief of permit section,
ment process, its effect on the
closely follow EPAs guidelines
Pennsylvania Department of
groundwater, and the use of
and require tertiary treatment.
Environmental Protection, Division
genetically engineered trees
Other regions think wastewater
of Wastewater Management,
led the homeowner to file suit
with a fecal coliform level of
Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.We hope
against the wastewater treatment
200 colonies per 100 mL is suffi- plant. That incident was the
to establish guidelines within the
cient for irrigating a golf course. impetus for setting up regulanext two years.
We really need to get everyone
Pennsylvanias experience in
tions in Oregon for how poplar
on the same page.
wastewater reuse is limited.
trees are planted.

Some Wastewater Reuse

Advantages and Disadvantages
Advantages:
This technology reduces the demands on
potable sources of freshwater.
It may reduce the need for large wastewater treatment systems, if significant
portions of the waste stream are reused
or recycled.
The technology may diminish the volume of
wastewater discharged, resulting in a beneficial impact on the aquatic environment.
Capital costs are low to medium for most
systems and are recoverable in a very
short time; this excludes systems
designed for direct reuse of sewage
water.
Operation and maintenance are relatively
simple except in direct reuse systems
where more extensive technology and
quality control are required.
Provision of nutrient-rich wastewaters
can increase agricultural production in
water-poor areas.
Pollution of rivers and groundwaters may
be reduced.
Lawn maintenance and golf course irrigation is facilitated in resort areas.
In most cases, the quality of the wastewater, as an irrigation water supply, is
superior to that of well water.

Disadvantages
If implemented on a large scale, revenues
to water supply and wastewater utilities
may fall as the demand for potable water
for non-potable uses and the discharge
of wastewaters is reduced.
Reuse of wastewater may be seasonal in
nature, resulting in the overloading of
treatment and disposal facilities during
the rainy season; if the wet season is of
long duration and/or high intensity, the
seasonal discharge of raw wastewaters
may occur.
Health problems, such as water-borne
diseases and skin irritations, may occur
in people coming into direct contact with
reused wastewater.
Gases, such as sulfuric acid, produced
during the treatment process can result
in chronic health problems.
In some cases, reuse of wastewater is
not economically feasible because of the
requirement for an additional distribution
system.
Application of untreated wastewater
as irrigation water or as injected
recharge water may result in groundwater contamination.
Source: Organization of American States. Water Reuse.
Unit for Sustainable Development and Environment.
www.oas.org/sp/prog/chap3_2.htm.

48

On Tap Winter 2005

Cross-Connection Control
It is crucial to be able to differentiate between piping, valves, and
outlets that are used to distribute
treated effluent (reclaimed water)
and those that are used to distribute potable water. One method
used for this purpose is color-coding components used to distribute
reclaimed water not intended for
drinking water. Another method is
to post areas such as parks, cemeteries, and yards with warning
signs stating the water is not for
consumption. Signage should
reflect all the major languages in
the region. Florida, for instance,
uses both Spanish and English.
The City of St. Petersburgs
cross-connection control program is
nationally recognized as being one
of the most thorough programs in
place, especially for dual distribution systems, says Bruce Bates,
manager of water reclamation, St.
Petersburg, Florida. We routinely
inspect homeowner and commercial systems to ensure they havent
inadvertently tied their potable
water system into the reclaimed
system. We require backflow prevention assemblies; and we have
hose bibbs for the reclaimed line in
an underground service box.

Costs
Some considerations for costs
include the type of reuse equipment
chosen, whether or not the reuse
system was constructed at the same
time as the treatment plant or added
on afterward, the level to which the
effluent is treated, and the distance
the treated effluent must travel
between the treatment site and the
discharge site. Many communities
have defrayed costs through lowinterest loans and federal, state, and
local grants.
In his abstract Wastewater Reuse
for Non-Potable Applications: An
Introduction, presented at the 2000
International Symposium on Efficient
Water Use in Urban Areas, Takashi
Asano, Ph.D., P.E., University of
California, Davis, California, writes,
A common misconception in planning for wastewater reclamation
and reuse is that reclaimed wastewater represents a low-cost new
water supply. This assumption is
generally true only when wastewater reclamation facilities are conveniently located near large agricultural or industrial users and when

no additional treatment is required

beyond the existing water pollution
control facilities from which
reclaimed water is delivered. The
conveyance and distribution systems
for reclaimed water represent the
principal cost of most proposed water
reuse projects. Recent experience in
California indicates that approximately four million U.S. dollars in capital
cost are required for each one million
m3 per year of reclaimed water that is
made available for reuse. Assuming a
facility life of 20 years and a nine
percent interest rate, the amortized
cost of this reclaimed water is about
$0.45/m3, excluding operations and
management costs.
Wastewater reuse systems range
from very sophisticated and complex
engineering processes to simple, natural systems. A professional engineer
can examine the various processes
and components to design a system
that best meets your needs.

Wastewater Reuse in Florida

In 2001, Florida reused 584 million
gallons per day of treated wastewater
for beneficial purposes.
In Florida, its either feast or
famine, Bates says. Florida enjoys
plentiful rainfall, but uneven distribution of precipitation has caused
drought conditions, particularly in
March, April, and May. To preserve
water supplies, Floridas state law
mandates that potable water be limited for irrigation purposes.
St. Petersburg, Florida, is home to
the oldest municipal dual distribution
system in the United States, and one
of the largest in the world. The system supplies potable water through
one distribution network and nonpotable water through the other.
The citys four water reclamation
treatment plants handle more than 40
million gallons of wastewater each day.
When the water enters the plant, it is
screened through a bar screen structure

Photo by Susan Horvat

to remove large debris and then

goes to a grit chamber to allow the
sand and grit to settle. After settling, the water is biologically
treated in special aeration basins
to allow billions of microorganisms to consume organics in the
wastewater. After biological treatment, the water is filtered
through deep bed, dual media filters and then clarified. To complete the process, the water is
disinfected with chlorine.
The treated effluent flows
through 260 miles of pipe to
more than 10,000 homes and
businesses, including 9,340 residential lawns, 51 schools, 86 parks, six
golf courses, and 11 commercial
cooling towers. Forty million gallons of treated wastewater can be
stored onsite; after that, the water
is stored 900 feet below the ground
in deep well injection.
The public loves the service,
Bates says. Statistically, it takes
wastewater from five homeowners to provide enough water for
one lawn, so our biggest criticism
has been that we cant serve
everyone. Currently, we serve
approximately 10 percent of our
population.
One reason the public has
responded so favorably is that
reused wastewater is billed on a
flat rate, not on consumption.
Using potable water would cost
between five to 10 times more
than reused wastewater, Bates
says. When we first started the
program back in the 1970s, no

one was sure how the program

would be received, so it was marketed at a low, flat rate to win
people over and was subsidized
through other revenues. But
charging a flat rate was a big
mistake. People dont conserve
because there is no economic
incentive associated with it. The
$5 monthly user fee doesnt come
close to covering our capital and
operating costs for this service.
St. Petersburg is setting up
several pilot programs in which
meters will be used to determine
consumption rates. Well only be
gathering baseline data, Bates
says. Moving from a flat rate to
a consumption rate is a political
decision the mayor would have to
make, and it will require serious
discussion in order to convince
our customers.

Reuse in Woodburn, Oregon

When the Oregon Department
of Environmental Quality revised
the total maximum daily load for
the Pudding River, the city of
Woodburn had to decide between
lowering the ammonia level in its
wastewater or finding an alternative discharge site. After investigating a variety of options, Woodburn
chose to refurbish its treatment
plant to include a wastewater
reuse facility.
Gaining public acceptance was
at the top of the list. Management
put together a citizens committee,
created an educational video
about the facility, conducted

poplar plantation tours, organized

school science poplar projects,
sent out flyers and mailers, and
got newspaper coverage, Stultz
says. We hired a retired public
relations woman from the community to assist us. We made sure
that the community understood
what we wanted to do and how
we were going to do it. It was a lot
of effort, but it was well worth it.
In 1999, Woodburn was ready
to discharge treated effluent
through micro-spray sprinklers
into its newly developed poplar
tree plantation. This was the perfect solution for us, Stultz said.
We have a lot of farmland around
us, and the soil was adequate for
the application, so we didnt have
to do much preparation work.
The great thing about poplar
trees is that they grow quickly
and use lots of water,he adds.
A four-year-old tree, for instance,
would uptake 10.6 acreages of
water. We generally produce
about two million gallons a day
of wastewater, and we can irrigate the 88-acre plantation with
1.5 million gallons a day during
our critical dry months from June
through September. The remaining one-half million gallons a day
is discharged to our receiving
stream. Because the amount of
wastewater being discharged into
the stream has been greatly
reduced, the receiving stream is
able to dilute the concentrations
of ammonia so that the levels are
within regulations. The amount
www.nesc.wvu.edu

49

of wastewater taken into the

treatment plant slows down during the November rainy season
when the receiving stream is naturally high, providing a greater
dilution factor for loadings.
Wastewater is treated using a
biological nutrient removal aeration basin, a clarifier, and sandfilters, bringing it to tertiary treatment. Treated effluent is disinfected in an ultraviolet unit and then
diverted into a basin for chlorination. While this level of treatment
exceeds the requirements for a
nonfood crop, management
decided to use the precautions
since the treatment plant had the
equipment to do it.
After chlorination, the treated
effluent is pumped into a manifold system that distributes it to
the poplar plantation through an
underground piping system.
Micro-spray sprinklers are used to
irrigate the plantation, but there is
an offset of 35 feet from the
property line where irrigation
does not occur. In addition, the
plantation is completely fenced
and surrounded by signs warning
intruders that treated effluent is
being discharged.
The irrigation system can be
shut down in five-acre blocks, providing the capability for spot irrigation. The system is operated from a
microcomputer and requires only
minimal daily input and supervision.
Should the plantation or a
pump fail, the treatment plant can
discharge the effluent into a fiveacre lagoon that it maintains for
emergency storage.
The system went in pretty
smooth. There are just some
minor changes Id make when we
expand, Stultz says. For
instance, some of our employees
have a farming background, and
there are certain steps that we
tried to get the engineers to do
before planting the trees that
would have been helpful. The
field was plowed, leveled, and
then grass and a four-inch cutting
were planted into the bare
ground. When we irrigated, we
had a weed control problem and
had to manually remove the grass
from around the cuttings.
What we recommended was
planting grass seed on the site for a
year or two and spraying and harvesting it for grass seed, he says.
This would condition the soil, and
50

On Tap Winter 2005

there wouldnt be any weeds. Then

you plant the trees in your stream
lines and rows without disturbing
the soil. This way, grass is already
growing and weeds arent a big
problem.
This natural system creates an
attractive habitat for wildlife, provides 30 to 50 percent more evapotranspiration capacity than would a
different crop of equal size, and
provides a new source of revenue.
Trees can be harvested every seven
to 12 years, and revenue from the
sale of woodchips can be used to
offset a portion of the capital and
operation and maintenance costs of
the system.
The city plans to expand the
facility every five years to match
population growth. By 2020, the
site will cover 300 acres and will
reuse five million gallons of
wastewater per day.

Reuse in Hawaii
In August 2000, the City of
Honolulu opened its first reuse
facility on Oahu and, at 13 million gallons per day, it is the
largest in the Hawaiian Islands.
The Honouliuli Water Recycling
Facility (HWRF) was built to preserve limited potable water and to
satisfy a 1990s decree mandating
the city reduce the amount of
wastewater effluent it discharges
into the Pacific Ocean.
Originally, the city entered into
a public/private partnership with
USFilter Operating Services, now
known as Veolia Water. According
to the agreement, Veolia would
design, build, own, and operate the
facility for 20 years and then turn it
over to the city.
One month before the facility
opened, however, the city decided that the Honolulu Board of
Water Supply (HBWS) would purchase the HWRF and contract

FIGURE 1

Veolia Water to operate it. By

buying the facility, were in control of the operation, and we
receive the profits by sort of taking out the middle man profits,
Clifford Jamile, manager and chief
engineer of the Board of Water
Supply, reports in a July 2000
Board of Water news release. We
feel the effects are twofold. One,
we will save millions of gallons of
drinking water per day currently
used for irrigation or industrial
purposes. Two, the profits from
the sale of reclaimed water adds
another revenue to our base, and
we can pass the savings on to the
customer.
The HWRF was built adjacent
to the Honouliuli Wastewater
Treatment Plant so that it could
T into the plants effluent outfall. The facility produces two
grades of high-quality recycled
water, R-1 water, which is used
for landscape, agriculture, and
golf course irrigation, and reverse
osmosis water (RO), which is
used for industrial purposes,
such as boiler feed water and
ultra-pure process water.
When one of the industrial
customers uses the RO water, the
island saves 600,000 gallons a day
of drinking water. With all the
industrial users combined, we
save about 2.5 million gallons a
day of drinking water, says Ken
Windram, project manager for
Veolia Water.
Both types of recycled water
begin with secondary treated
effluent from the Honolulu
wastewater treatment plant.
The R-1 and the RO processes
are shown in Figure 1.
Switching to RO water turned
into a savings for industrial users.
When rain water filters through
the lava structure in the ground, it
picks up between 60 to 70 parts

BWS Water Reclamation FacilitySimplified Flow Diagram

silica per million gallons in the

drinking water, Windram says.
The silica turns into glass when it
enters the boilers, costing the
power plants and refineries a
substantial sum of money to demineralize the water to remove it.
The HWRF, on the other hand,
reduced the silica from 60 to 70
parts per million to about 1 part
per million gallons of water.
Industrial users had paid the city
and county $1.98 per thousand
gallons for drinking water, he
says. In addition, they spent $5
to $12 per thousand gallons to
demineralize the water.
We charge industrial users
about $5 per thousand gallons for
recycled water, Windram continues, yet they save between $2
and $7 per thousand gallons,
depending on their daily flow
rate, because ultra-pure RO water
allows more demineralizer production gallons between backwashes,
greatly reducing the amount of
regeneration chemicals used.
When the HWRF first opened,
irrigation users such as golf
courses paid only 25 cents per
thousand gallons of R-1 water.
Over a three-year period, the rate
was increased to 65 cents.
Providing water at such low
prices enticed users to replace
groundwater with recycled water
for nonpotable uses. The R-1
water users are pleased with the
results. Chlorides were reduced
from 800 to 1,600 for groundwater to less than 300 chlorides for
recycled water, and chloride sensitive vegetation is now plentiful
on the golf courses.
Because of the dissolved nitrogen and phosphorus compounds
in the R-1 water, the golf courses
have reduced their purchases of
commercial fertilizers, and the
play on the courses has really
improved, Windham says. Also,
when other Oahu golf courses
have to reduce water use during
the summer season, the HWRFwatered golf courses continue to
irrigate with the drought-proof
recycled water supply.

The greatest
obstacle to recycled
water was public acceptance. Its simply a matter
of explaining the technology
that is involved here and the
standards required by the
department of health before
we can discharge the water,
Windram said.
Veolia Water and the HBWS
developed a public outreach program that educated the public
through facility tours, newsletters,
brochures, and public presentations
at neighborhood board meetings,
community meetings, church associations, and schools.

The Future of Reuse

Actions promoting wastewater
reuse are everywhere. New Jersey,
for instance, has formed a tenmember commission to investigate
wastewater reuse for non-potable
urban uses such as irrigation, dust
control, and fire fighting.
Both New York and Louisiana
have pending legislation dealing
with different aspects of reuse.
And several citiesOdessa,
Texas, and Denver, Colorado,
among themhave started
constructing resuse systems.
Wastewater reuse is a proven
technology that has been used for
more than 40 years across the
U.S. It is a drought-proof, renewable supply of water that will help
communities keep water tables
from dropping, water resources
from shrinking, and waterways
from becoming polluted.

For More Information

The National Environmental
Services Center (NESC) maintains

a list of manufacturers and consultants in its Manufacturers and

Consultants Database. The URL is:
www.nesc. wvu.edu/nsfc_manu
facturers.htm.
NESC also has products related
to reuse. The Winter 1999 issue of
the newsletter Pipeline (product #
SFPLNL16) is devoted to the topic, as
is the book Guidelines for Water
Reuse (WWBKDM72). To order
either of these products, call NESC at
(800) 624-8301 or send an e-mail
to [email protected].
On the Internet, EPA Region
9 has some links to specific areas
at www.epa.gov/region9/water/
recycling. The WateReuse Association has a Web site at www.
watereuse.org.
A version of this article originally
appeared in the summer 2004 issue
of Small Flows Quarterly (SFQ).
Published by NESC, SFQ is a magazine devoted to small community
wastewater issues.
A member of NESC for
more than eight years,
Caigan McKenzie, has
had a number of her
water and wastewater
articles reprinted in
a variety of publications.
www.nesc.wvu.edu

51