Potable Reuse of Water: A View from Arizona

摘要

The potable reuse of water- the introduction of highly treated wastewater that meets or exceeds drinking water standards into the potable water system- is receiving increased attention as growing population and finite resources spur water managers to augment water supplies. Downstream water users have been drinking upstream wastewater for millennia; for example, Arizona's Colorado River water users, including customers of the Central Arizona Project, receive treated wastewater from Las Vegas, NV. But the intentional reuse by one community of its own wastewater is new, an approach made possible by advanced treatment technologies that are capable of producing water purer than any found in nature.