Demonstrating the Benefits of Engineered Direct versus Unintended Indirect Potable Reuse Systems

De facto reuse constitutes a phenomenon in which treated wastewater effluent is discharged into groundwater or surface water bodies that serve as source water resources, without specific plans or permits for augmenting these water supplies with treated wastewater. In the United States, as well as internationally, drinking water utilities that rely on surface water resources frequently are located downstream from wastewater treatment plant discharges into rivers or lakes. This project provides a quantitative assessment of water quality and impacts associated with de facto reuse and demonstrates how fully engineered approaches to direct potable reuse (DPR) result in water quality benefits.

Originally funded as WERF project Reuse-11-05.