Reuse of municipal wastewater has potential to augment future drinking water supplies

2012-01-11

(Press-News.org) WASHINGTON — With recent advances in technology and design, treating municipal wastewater and reusing it for drinking water, irrigation, industry, and other applications could significantly increase the nation's total available water resources, particularly in coastal areas facing water shortages, says a new report from the National Research Council. It adds that the reuse of treated wastewater, also known as reclaimed water, to augment drinking water supplies has significant potential for helping meet future needs. Moreover, new analyses suggest that the possible health risks of exposure to chemical contaminants and disease-causing microbes from wastewater reuse do not exceed, and in some cases may be significantly lower than, the risks of existing water supplies.

"Wastewater reuse is poised to become a legitimate part of the nation's water supply portfolio given recent improvements to treatment processes," said R. Rhodes Trussell, chair of the committee that wrote the report and president of Trussell Technologies, Pasadena, Calif. "Although reuse is not a panacea, wastewater discharged to the environment is of such quantity that it could measurably complement water from other sources and management strategies."

The report examines a wide range of reuse applications, including potable water, non-potable urban and industrial uses, irrigation, groundwater recharge, and ecological enhancement. The committee found that many communities have already implemented water reuse projects -- such as irrigating golf courses and parks or providing industrial cooling water in locations near wastewater reclamation plants -- that are well-established and generally accepted. Potable water reuse projects account for only a small fraction of the volume of water currently being reused. However, many drinking water treatment plants draw water from a source that contains wastewater discharged by a community located upstream; this practice is not officially acknowledged as potable reuse.

The report outlines wastewater treatment technologies for mitigating chemical and microbial contaminants, including both engineered and natural treatment systems. These processes can be used to tailor wastewater reclamation plants to meet the quality requirements of intended reuse applications. The concentrations of chemicals and microbial contaminants in reuse projects designed to augment drinking water supplies can be comparable to or lower than those commonly present in many drinking water supplies. The committee emphasized the need for process reliability and careful monitoring to ensure that all reclaimed water meets the appropriate quality objectives for its use.

Costs of water reuse for potable and non-potable applications vary widely because they depend on site-specific factors, the committee said. Water reuse projects tend to be more expensive than most water conservation options and less expensive than seawater desalination and other new supply alternatives. Although the costs of reclaimed water are often higher than current water sources, the report urges water authorities to consider other costs and benefits in addition to monetary expenditures when assessing reuse projects. For example, water reuse systems used in conjunction with a water conservation program could be effective in reducing seasonal peak demands on the drinking water system. Depending on the specific designs and pumping requirements, reuse projects could also have a larger or smaller carbon footprint than existing supply alternatives or reduce water flows to downstream users and ecosystems.

Water reuse regulations differ by state and are not based on risk-assessment methods, the report says. Adjustments to the federal regulatory framework could help ensure a high level of public health protection, provide a consistent minimum level of protection across the nation, and increase public confidence in potable and non-potable water reuse. The report notes that existing legislative tools could be applied to improve the quality of water for reuse, including updating the National Pretreatment Program's list of priority pollutants to include a wider inventory of known toxic substances. Also, it lists 14 areas of research to help guide the country on how to apply water reuse appropriately. Such research would require improved coordination among federal and nongovernmental organizations.

###

The study was sponsored by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, U.S. Bureau of Reclamation, National Science Foundation, National Water Research Institute, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Water Research Foundation, Orange County Water District, Orange County Sanitation District, Los Angeles Department of Water and Power, Irvine Ranch Water District, West Basin Water District, Inland Empire Utilities Agency, Metropolitan Water District of Southern California, Los Angeles County Sanitation Districts, and Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency.

The National Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Engineering, Institute of Medicine, and National Research Council make up the National Academies. They are independent, nonprofit institutions that provide science, technology, and health policy advice under an 1863 congressional charter. Panel members, who serve pro bono as volunteers, are chosen by the Academies for each study based on their expertise and experience and must satisfy the Academies' conflict-of-interest standards. The resulting consensus reports undergo external peer review before completion. For more information, visit http://national-academies.org/studycommitteprocess.pdf. A panel roster follows.

Contacts:
Jennifer Walsh, Media Relations Officer
Luwam Yeibio, Media Relations Assistant
Office of News and Public Information
202-334-2138; e-mail news@nas.edu

Pre-publication copies of Water Reuse: Potential for Expanding the Nation's Water Supply Through Reuse of Municipal Wastewater are available from the National Academies Press; tel. 202-334-3313 or 1-800-624-6242 or on the Internet at http://www.nap.edu. Reporters may obtain a copy from the Office of News and Public Information (contacts listed above).

NATIONAL RESEARCH COUNCIL
Division on Earth and Life Studies
Water Science and Technology Board

Committee to Assess Water Reuse as an Approach for Meeting Future Water Supply Needs

R. Rhodes Trussell* (chair)
President
Trussell Technologies Inc.
Pasadena, Calif.

Henry A. Anderson
Chief Medical Officer for Occupational and Environmental Health
Wisconsin Division of Public Health
Madison

Edmund Archuleta
President and CEO
El Paso Water Utilities Public Service Board
El Paso, Texas

James Crook
Professional Engineer and Independent Consultant
Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency
Monterey, Calif.

Jorg E. Drewes
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
Colorado School of Mines
Golden

Denise D. Fort
Professor
School of Law
University of New Mexico
Albuquerque

Charles N. Haas
Betz Professor of Environmental Engineering
Department of Civil, Architectural, and Environmental Engineering
Drexel University
Philadelphia

Brent Haddad
Professor of Environmental Studies, and
Founder and Director
Center for Integrated Water Research
University of California
Santa Cruz

Duane Huggett
Assistant Professor
Department of Biology
Institute of Applied Sciences
University of North Texas
Denton

Sunny Jiang
Associate Professor of Environmental Engineering, Environmental Health, and Environmental Toxicology
University of California
Irvine

David L. Sedlak
Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering
University of California
Berkeley

Shane Snyder
Professor
College of Engineering
University of Arizona
Tucson

Margaret H. Whittaker
Chief Toxicologist
ToxServices
Washington, D.C.

Dale Whittington
Professor
Departments of Environmental Sciences and Engineering and City and Regional Planning
University of North Carolina
Chapel Hill

RESEARCH COUNCIL STAFF

Stephanie Johnson
Study Director

* Member, National Academy of Engineering

END

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Powerful New Book for National Mentoring Month

2012-01-11

Street gangs, drug addiction, child prostitution, homelessness, abuse and neglect are major concerns that affect millions of American youth. According to studies, half of the U.S. youth population (17.6 million kids) is considered "at-risk" of getting into trouble with the law, or "high-risk" and already in trouble. Our kids need help. January is National Mentoring Month. A study done by Public/Private Ventures in Philadelphia showed that children matched with mentors through Big Brothers Big Sisters were 46% less likely to begin using illegal ...

An apple a day isn't enough

2012-01-11

Montreal, January 10, 2012 — Adults from 30 to 60 years old, especially those from lower socioeconomic backgrounds, aren't consuming the daily recommended levels of fruits and vegetables. Quebecers, however, eat more of nature's produce than their fellow Canadians. These are some of the findings of a new Concordia University study, published by Nutrition Journal, which sheds light on who reaches in their fridge crisper often enough to gain the health benefits of a balanced diet comprised of fruits and vegetables. "People from the Atlantic to the western provinces ...

Disruption of biological clocks causes neurodegeneration, early death

2012-01-11

CORVALLIS, Ore. – New research at Oregon State University provides evidence for the first time that disruption of circadian rhythms – the biological "clocks" found in many animals – can clearly cause accelerated neurodegeneration, loss of motor function and premature death. The study was published in Neurobiology of Disease and done by researchers at OSU and Oregon Health and Science University. Prior to this, it wasn't clear which came first - whether the disruption of biological clock mechanisms was the cause or the result of neurodegeneration. "In these experiments, ...

Clearing a potential road block to bisabolane

2012-01-11

The recent discovery that bisabolane, a member of the terpene class of chemical compounds used in fragrances and flavorings, holds high promise as a biosynthetic alternative to D2 diesel fuel has generated keen interest in the green energy community and the trucking industry. Now a second team of researchers with the U.S Department of Energy (DOE)'s Joint BioEnergy Institute (JBEI) has determined the three-dimensional crystal structure of a protein that is key to boosting the microbial-based production of bisabolane as an advanced biofuel. The JBEI research team, led ...

Diabetes study shines spotlight on lifestyle interventions

2012-01-11

An Emory University study published in the January issue of Health Affairs assesses real-world lifestyle interventions to help delay or prevent the costly chronic disease that affects nearly 26 million Americans. Researchers from Emory's Rollins School of Public Health (RSPH) systematically reviewed the published literature and analyzed 28 studies that tested adaptations of the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP) trial in real-world settings. Published in 2002, this major clinical trial showed that structured lifestyle programs for people with prediabetes could halve the ...

Early-stage breast cancer patients lack knowledge; may not receive treatment they prefer

2012-01-11

CHICAGO (January 10, 2012) – According to the results of a new study published in the January 2012 issue of the Journal of the American College of Surgeons, many early-stage breast cancer survivors lacked knowledge about their disease and were not meaningfully involved in treatment discussions or asked their preferences regarding the approach to treatment. As a result, the study's investigators determined that there is a need for improvements in the quality of the surgical decision-making process for these patients. The retrospective study sought to evaluate the quality ...

Unexpected discovery opens up new opportunities for targeting cancer

2012-01-11

Scientists at the University of Leicester have opened up a whole new approach to the therapeutic intervention for a family of anti-cancer drug targets, thanks to a completely new and unexpected finding. Professor Schwabe and his colleagues, Drs Watson, Fairall and Santos, have published their research this week in leading science magazine Nature detailing a new understanding of how transcriptional repression complexes work. Their work, which is based around determining atomic resolution structures of medically important bio-molecular complexes, has been ongoing for six ...

Dramatic links found between climate change, elk, plants, and birds

2012-01-11

Climate change in the form of reduced snowfall in mountains is causing powerful and cascading shifts in mountainous plant and bird communities through the increased ability of elk to stay at high elevations over winter and consume plants, according to a groundbreaking study in Nature Climate Change. The U.S. Geological Survey and University of Montana study not only showed that the abundance of deciduous trees and their associated songbirds in mountainous Arizona have declined over the last 22 years as snowpack has declined, but it also experimentally demonstrated that ...

El Gordo -- a 'fat' distant galaxy cluster

2012-01-11

An extremely hot, massive young galaxy cluster — the largest ever seen in the distant Universe — has been studied by an international team using ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in the Atacama Desert in Chile along with NASA's Chandra X-ray Observatory and the Atacama Cosmology Telescope. The new results are being announced on 10 January 2012 at the 219th meeting of the American Astronomical Society in Austin, Texas. The newly discovered galaxy cluster [1] has been nicknamed El Gordo — the "big" or "fat one" in Spanish. It consists of two separate galaxy subclusters colliding ...

Long Island Exchange Columnist Cognac Wellerlane Interviews Celebrities at The House of Savoia

2012-01-11

Over the holidays Long Island Exchange Columnist Cognac Wellerlane attended a holiday celebration at the House of Savoia. The event was hosted by suit and costume designer Michelle Savoia and Vanity Fair editor George Wayne. It was held on Essex Street in the lower east side of Manhattan. The House of Savoia is known for its custom suits and men's apparel and Savoia is famous for designing costumes for Broadway shows. The event was sponsored by Van Gogh Vodka, and cocktail courtesy by Molinari. Among those who attended were a variety of celebrities, such as models, actors, ...

Reuse of municipal wastewater has potential to augment future drinking water supplies

ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES: