Contemporary design, operation, and monitoring of potable reuse systems

Abstract

Water scarcity driven by population growth, lack of conventional supplies, and climate change impacts have resulted in increasing interest worldwide in drinking water augmentation using treated wastewater effluents. Potable reuse can occur indirect or direct, but is also practiced in many places as ‘de facto reuse’, where upstream wastewater discharge occurs to drinking water supplies. With this increasing recognition of potable reuse, there is very limited guidance and standardization for proper design and operation of potable reuse schemes that is protective of public health. This study provided guidance on contemporary approaches for the design, operation, and monitoring of potable reuse schemes, including source water characterization and source control approaches; linking water quality treatment performance goals to health risks; risk mitigation strategies including the design principles of multiple barriers for microbial and chemical contaminants; assessing system reliability and fail-safe design approaches; and, finally, monitoring strategies for process performance and compliance.