With the growing lack of freshwater resources in many parts of the world, governments are looking at non-traditional ways to increase freshwater supplies like wastewater recycling. This week we share articles about wastewater recycling which is gaining adoption around the world.
Colorado weighs taking “waste” out of wastewater to fix shortfall The Denver Post
“Denver Water has focused instead on recycling wastewater solely for irrigation, power-plant cooling towers and other nonpotable use. An expanding citywide network of separate pipelines distributes this treated wastewater — 30 million gallons a day.”
From toilet to tap: Getting a taste for drinking recycled waste water CNN
“The plant is expanding production from 70 to 100 million gallons per day, enough for 850,000 people, around one-third of the county population. As the OWCD output is mixed with the main groundwater supply it reaches over 70% of residents.”
Abu Dhabi to recycle 100% of waste water within 3 years Gulf News
“Thomson, who was a keynote speaker at the inaugural session, told Gulf News that Al Ain city recycles 190,000 cubic metres of waste water it generates a day, which is fully distributed for reuse.”
Recycled Water Facility in Australia Offers Lessons for Global Drought Planning Blue Circle
“Officials at Water Corporation, the state-owned utility that provides the city’s water, want to boost recycling rates to 30 percent by 2030 and 60 percent by 2050.”
Water Waste: Going, Going … New York Times
“At the San Francisco 49ers’ new home in Santa Clara, which opened this summer, 85 percent of the water used is recycled water.”
Orange County Recycled Water System Shows Importance of Collaboration Circle of Blue
“Water agencies send 3 billion gallons of wastewater into the Pacific Ocean each year, according to the California WateReuse Association, an industry group. Much of that could be put to use, with significant benefits.”
San Diego Approves $3.5B Recycled Water Project NBC
“Orange County is now recycling 70 million gallons a day to ‘potable’ — and is soon expected to reach 100 million gallons a day.”
States, Cities Get Creative About Recycling Water The Pew Charitable Trusts
“Florida reuses roughly half of its treated wastewater, or 725 million gallons each day, the most of any state.”
Recycled Wastewater Is Crucial The New York Times
“Thirty-two billion gallons of municipal wastewater are produced everyday in the United States but less than 10 percent of that is intentionally reused.”
The US, South Africa and Australia are turning wastewater into drinking water The Guardian
“Among the key advantages of DPR is that the water tends to be available much closer to the location at which it can be used, compared to water which must be imported over long distances.”
California Drought: San Jose’s New High-Tech Water Purification Plant to Expand Recycled Water Use San Jose Mercury News
“The recycled water isn’t cheap — about $1,100 an acre-foot to produce, or roughly triple what it costs to buy water from the Delta, yet still about half the cost of desalinating ocean water.”