Fountain Hills Sanitary District: Four Decades of Innovation in Total Reuse

摘要

Total reuse of reclaimed water has been a necessity in Fountain Hills, Arizona since thecommunity was founded around 1970, because there is no access to the regional wastewatersystem or to natural watercourses for discharge. Local soil conditions preclude the use of vadosezone recharge. As flows increased, seasonal imbalances in supply and demand became verychallenging to manage. The Fountain Hills Sanitary District explored a wide range ofalternatives and ultimately implemented an aquifer storage and recovery (ASR) program.Microfiltered reclaimed water is recharged directly to the local aquifer during the cooler monthsand recovered for reuse during the hotter months when irrigation water demands are highest. Useof the aquifer for seasonal storage has enabled supplies and demands to be balanced on an annualbasis. Over the past decade, over 5 billion gallons of water have been reused via the FountainHills system.