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Research Highlights - October 2004

Water--the Resource With Many Lives

Water FountainUnlike some of earth’s other natural resources, water has many potential lives. After serving a primary function in urban or agricultural settings, water may be reclaimed, treated to meet a desired degree of purity, and reused for many nonpotable (nondrinking) purposes. These might include the maintenance of golf courses, highway medians, or office parks. Many communities use reclaimed wastewater in utility cooling towers and manufacturing processes, for fire fighting or street cleaning, to irrigate agriculture, or recharge wetlands in times of drought. In 1980, in the absence of national reuse regulations, EPA published the first edition of Guidelines for Water Reuse. While sources of water for reclamation may range from industrial process wastewaters to stormwater runoff, the EPA guidelines focused on the effluent generated by domestic wastewater treatment facilities. In 1992 a second edition was published, doubled in size and updated with new information including an inventory of state regulations and treatment guidelines. This year the book is being updated again. Published and distributed by EPA’s Technology Transfer program, the 2004 Guidelines for Water Reuse include public health issues, state requirements and problems of emerging pathogens and chemicals of concern. But the basic objectives of the document remain the same: to make water managers and resource planners aware of the proven practices of water reclamation. For more about this valuable ‘new’ resource, visit our Research Highlights web page.

Contact: Patricia Schultz, Office of Public Affairs, 513-569-7966, or e-mail to: schultz.patricia@epa.gov .


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