🗣️ "The State of Water Reuse"

Host: Travis Loop
Guest: Melody White | Principal Application Development Manager | Hach
Category: 🗣️ Opinion

Podcast’s Essential Bites:

[2:26] “When we typically say water reuse, we're thinking [of] potable reuse or indirect potable. We're trying to take that clean wastewater effluent and clean it up even more to actually specifications beyond drinking water standards, so that we can possibly use that in some sort of drinking water fashion. When we talk about water recycling, more so […] we talked about […] non-potable reuse, so we're not going to drink it. But we are going to use that water for other things. Things such as […] agriculture, irrigation.”

[4:20] “One of the things that's driving water reuse in the world is how we look at and what's happening with these extreme environmental changes and how it's affecting our water. So think about things like rains, floods, fires, droughts. Do you even realize that 90% of the Western US […] has been in a drought situation over multiple years? […] Population changes, particularly in the West we have different population centers and one of the other things that is driving in from a water scarcity standpoint. So all of this is driving the use and reuse of water.”

[7:38] “Water reuse is advancing actually all over the world. But if we want to talk specifically [about] the United States. Florida is a big water reuse proponent. Texas, […] obviously the Colorado River Basin so Arizona, Nevada, California. So those are probably some of our largest states that do have water reuse regulations and things going on. But other states are also doing it, [like] Colorado, Oklahoma […]. The Water Reuse Association has got some great information for anybody that wants to learn more or possibly get involved in a local chapter there.”

[10:07] “It costs money to treat water. And so from a reuse perspective, many times the reuse requirements, whether that be non-potable or potable, the reuse requirements actually exceed those of a traditional […] permit. […] And it can get very costly to do these projects. From the infrastructure, to the monitoring, to the regulations, all sorts of things. But even when we talk about non-potable for industrial use, that can still get very costly from different parameters not traditionally associated with wastewater, things like silica, […] salts.”

[11:17] “The second thing, […] when we talk about potable reuse is public perception. […] [With] the whole […] toilet to tap concept, […] municipalities and agencies don't do a good job of getting the public involved, and the understanding and the education that goes along with that. [So] there can be huge barriers to the acceptance of reuse.”

[15:45] “Water reuse is not going away. […] With the changes in extreme environmental conditions that are happening, […] we're going to be doing more and more of it. It may not necessarily be for direct potable reuse, but certainly for indirect potable reuse and for non-potable in various applications. […] This is a billion dollar industry, from […] brand new sites that are being built to facilities that are changing processes just to conserve water and reuse.”

Rating: 💧💧💧

🎙️ Full Episode: Apple | Spotify
🕰️ 18 min | 🗓️ 10/13/2021
✅ Time saved: 16 min