The growing issues of freshwater scarcity in many parts of the world are encouraging more water recycling projects from San Diego to Singapore. Here are 15 facts about water recycling from around the world.
“A 2012 National Academy of Sciences study found that U.S. coastal cities could increase their water supply 27 percent with treated wastewater.”
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Israel recycles 80 percent of its sewage, using much of it for irrigation.
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It is estimated that reuse of all the wastewater we discharge to the oceans and estuaries would increase the water available to U.S. municipalities by about 6 percent.
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1 billion gallons per day of treated wastewater is reclaimed to meet non-potable water needs (in the U.S.).
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Florida is a national leader in water reuse. Approximately 719 million gallons per day of reclaimed water was reused for beneficial purposes in 2013.
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Globally, around 20 million ha of land are irrigated with wastewater, and this is likely to increase markedly during the next few decades as water stress intensifies. (2007)
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95% of water that enters the home goes down the drain daily.
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Singapore’s wastewater recycling plant uses advanced membrane techniques to produce water that is clean enough to be used for the electronics industry and be bottled as drinking water.
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“In 2010, California recycled roughly 650,000 acre-feet of water per year (ac-ft/yr). They have set ambitious goals to increase water recycling, with at least 1 million ac-ft/yr recycled by 2020, and 2 million ac-ft/yr by 2030.”
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“Less than three-tenths of 1 percent of total water use across the United States involves recycling.”
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“Of the 32 billion gallons of wastewater discharged every day, 12 billion gallons is discharged into oceans and estuaries.”
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“According to the University of Arizona’s Water Resources Research Center, between 60 and 65 percent of the water that goes down a home’s drain has the potential to be reused.”
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“Thirty-two billion gallons of municipal wastewater are produced everyday in the United States but less than 10 percent of that is intentionally reused.”
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Recycled water costs about $1,100 an acre-foot to produce, about half the cost of desalinating ocean water.
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“The Orange County Water District, which serves 2.4 million people in California, plans to boost production of recycled water next year from 70 million gallons to 100 million gallons a day. It has reused wastewater for drinking since 2008 through treatment that includes sending water through ground basins.”
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