Rinse, Repeat: The Rise Of Water Reuse

I may not be “old school” in the water/wastewater industry, but I have been around long enough to see a number of ideas graduate from sideshow to center stage. In wastewater, the topic in the spotlight at the moment is water reuse — and its role won’t soon diminish. Depending on your part of the world, it will sooner or later be the norm — but the smart ones are planning ahead.

Some of the brightest minds in our field were on the panel at WEFTEC 2013’s Water Leaders session where water reuse dominated the discussion. Three of the four panelists, in fact, had significant stakes in water reuse for their cities and businesses.

Heiner Markhoff, president and CEO of GE Power & Water, shared results from a recent international survey conducted on attitudes toward water reuse. The findings showed not only firm support for the idea but found that 54 percent of respondents were willing to pay more for reused water. Furthermore, 90 percent agreed that water reuse should be a national priority for their respective countries.

GE conducted a similar survey in 2012, focused on the U.S., revealing that 80 percent or more of Americans support reuse for non-drinking water applications such as water-intensive industrial practices, as well as landscaping, toilet flushing, and car washing. The real seismic shift in the industry, however, is the rise of reuse for drinking-water applications.

Water Leaders panelist Sue Murphy, CEO of the Water Corporation in Perth, Australia, presides over what she called a “lost” water supply. Murphy said that in the last 30 years, the climate has changed dramatically, rainfall has fallen off 20 percent, and the runoff into dams is just one-sixth of what it was. Because of the scarcity situation, more than half of Perth’s water supply comes from desalination, but Western Australia Water Minister Terry Redman announced in August 2013 his plan to tap a new source. Within the next decade, another 20 percent of Australia’s water is predicted to come from indirect potable reuse (IPR).

Meanwhile, the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE) recommends the country go a step further, releasing a report in October 2013 on the benefits of (and inevitable need for) direct potable reuse (DPR). Those benefits, compared to IPR, include reduced energy use and greenhouse gas emissions, as well as lower capital and operational costs. The main impediment, of course, is public perception.

Chew Men Leong, chief executive of Singapore’s national water agency, the Public Utilities Board (PUB), has faced down this challenge and scored a rousing victory — so decidedly that the PUB’s NEWater program is a point of national pride and considered a model for the world. Leong, who was also part of the WEFTEC Water Leaders panel, recalled how PUB first sought understanding and acceptance from the media, which in turn helped promote buy-in from the general public. The Singapore NEWater Visitor Centre is another exemplary outreach effort. Opened in 2003, it features interactive models, games, videos, and a viewing area to showcase and explain the recycling process.

Contributing to its vanguard status, PUB hosted its first Water Utilities Leaders Forum just prior to WEFTEC, attracting more than 180 top water professionals from more than 45 countries. Among them was George Hawkins, general manager of the District of Columbia Water and Sewer Authority, who reported upon his return, “I wanted to see firsthand what they are doing … we need to learn from the world’s best.”

Hawkins, who is a leading voice in U.S. water treatment, noted that Singapore, as a small island with limited resources, was perhaps guided by necessity. However, Singapore and PUB only achieved their current lofty status by continuing to innovate, further adopting green infrastructure and desalination as they learned the virtue of forward-looking water policy. “The rest of us,” Hawkins concluded, “need programs of similar strategic breadth.”

Leong himself summed up the proper vision and approach for the future best at the Water Leaders session, stating, “We need to take the risk of adaptive technologies.” He then added — striking at the heart of the water reuse movement — “not being prepared for the future is a much bigger risk.”