Water Availability

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Water Availability

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As water supplies are stressed by growing populations, the impacts of climate change and greater competition of resources, the need to leverage innovative technologies and alternative growing plant

water supplies continues to grow. The challenge for many is matching the quality of water with its intended use.

Many water systems use treated wastewater for irrigation or industrial uses where water does not need to be of drinking water quality. Some water systems treat wastewater to drinking water standards and store it underground before withdrawing it as a source of drinking water.

This page provides information and resources about approaches that water systems can use to address current and anticipated variability of source water quality and quantity.

Water Reuse

An increasing number of communities are viewing wastewater as a resource rather than a waste.

EPA's Guidelines for Water Reuse - Although there are no federal regulations on water reuse, EPA has developed guidelines that describe the types of reuse applications, technical and legal issues in the U.S., public involvement, and water reuse in other countries, most recently in 2012. The 2012 reuse guidelines build on the Agency's previous reuse guidelines issued in 2004, incorporating information on water reuse that has been developed since the 2004 document was issued. In addition to summarizing the existing regulations in the U.S., the document includes water reuse practices outside of the U.S., case studies, information on planning for future water reuse systems, and information on indirect potable reuse and industrial reuse. For more information and to view copies of the 2012 and 2004 EPA Water Reuse Guidelines .
EPA Region 9's Water Reuse and Recycling: The Environmental Benefits - EPA Region 9's Water Reuse and Recycling web page discusses the benefits of water reuse.
National Academy of Sciences' Water Reuse: Potential for Expanding the Nation's Water Supply through Reuse of Municipal Wastewater - In 2012, the National Academy of Sciences released a report providing an overview of the options and outlook for water reuse in the United States. The report discusses water treatment technologies and potential uses of reclaimed water and explains analyses that compare the risks of drinking reclaimed water to those of drinking water from traditional sources.
Water Environment Research Foundation—Water Reuse - WERF's Water Reuse web page identifies the foundation's efforts to work collaboratively to investigate and assess procedures to facilitate the sustainable and cost-effective use or reclaimed water.
WateReuse Research Foundation - The WateReuse Research Foundation seeks to advance the science of water reuse, recycling, reclamation, and desalination. The foundation's research covers a broad spectrum of issues, including chemical contaminants, microbiological agents, treatment technologies, salinity management, public perception, economics, and marketing.
Water Reuse Projects:

Centreville, Virginia, Upper Occoquan Service Authority Water Reclamation and Reuse Program
Clayton County, Georgia, Clayton County Water Authority Innovative Water Reuse Program
El Paso, Texas, El Paso Water Utilities Reclaimed Water Project
Irvine, California, Irvine Ranch Water District Water Reuse Project
Monterey, California, Monterey Regional Water Pollution Control Agency Water Recycling Program
Orange County, California, Groundwater Replenishment Project
Orlando, Florida, City of Orlando Reclaimed Water Program
Santa Rosa, California, Geysers Recharge Project
State College, Pennsylvania, Penn State University Water Reuse Project

State Water Reuse Programs:

Aquifer Storage & Recovery

Artificial aquifer recharge (AR) is the enhancement of natural ground water supplies using manmade conveyances such as infiltration basins or injection wells. Aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) is a specific type of AR practiced with the purpose of both augmenting ground water resources and recovering the water in the future for various uses. The type of water injected for ASR can include treated drinking water, surface water, stormwater, and treated wastewater effluent. The wells used to inject fluids are considered underground injection wells for the purpose of regulation under the Safe Drinking Water Act.

Class V Underground Injection Well Study (PDF)(73 pp, 339K) EPA 816-R-99-014u, September 1999
Class V UIC Study Factsheet: Aquifer Recharge Wells and Aquifer Storage and Recovery Wells (PDF) (1 pp, 146K)
The National Academies' Report in Brief: Prospects for Managed Underground Storage of Recoverable Water (PDF) (4 pp, 370K)
U.S.Geological Survey provides information on aquifer recharge, as well as ground water software for modeling flow, transport, and geochemical reactions.
Case Study: Orange County, California, Groundwater Replenishment System

Desalination

As source water becomes scarcer and treatment technology improves, desalination is becoming a more attractive option for some water systems. Desalination is an approach to treat and use seawater or brackish ground water (more common in the southwestern United States) to create a freshwater supply. Note that brackish and saline water filtration and treatment may produce large amounts of waste residuals that require proper disposal and should be considered when choosing desalination technologies.

Membrane Filtration Guidance Manual (PDF) (331 pp, 3.77MB), EPA-815-R-06-009, November 2005 Although developed to support the EPA Cryptosporidium (LT2) Rule, this guidance may also have useful information for utilities considering membranes for desalination or water reuse purposes.
The National Academies' Report in Brief: Desalination: A National Perspective (PDF) (4 pp, 1.67MB)
Bureau of Reclamation Desalination Research
Case Study: El Paso, Texas, Brackish Water Desalination
Case Study: Tampa Bay, Florida, Seawater Desalination

Stormwater Management

Many communities are beginning to look at stormwater as a valuable resource that can be captured or injected into the ground to restore depleted aquifers. Solutions range from retention ponds, to rain barrels and cisterns, to a whole suite of strategies for infiltrating stormwater where it falls, rather than channeling it away through piped systems.

Fostering these approaches in your community can reduce the demands on your drinking water system, extend the life of water supplies, and have numerous other environmental benefits. Find out more here:

EPA's NPDES Stormwater Program web page
EPA Fact Sheet: When Are Stormwater Discharges Regulated as Class V Wells? (PDF) (2 pp, 798KB), EPA-816-F-03-001, June 2003
EPA's Stormwater Drainage Wells web page
EPA's Green Infrastructure web page
EPA's Low Impact Development web page

Research

EPA's Water Resource Adaptation Program (WRAP) WRAP contributes to EPA's efforts to provide water resource managers and decision makers with the tools they need to adapt water resources (e.g., watersheds and infrastructure) to future climate change and demographic and economic development.
White House National Science and Technology Council Committee on Environment and Natural Resources Report: A Federal Strategy for Federal Science and Technology to Support Water Quality and Availability in the United States (PDF) (46 pp, 3.11MB)
Water Research Foundation's Climate Change Clearinghouse
U.S. Bureau of Reclamation's Climate Change and Variability Research

Water Reuse

Aquifer Storage & Recovery

Desalination

Stormwater Management

Research

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