Realising reclamation's potential

摘要

For some countries, perhaps most notably the UK, there are basic reservations that stand in the way of exploiting to the full the potential of reusing reclaimed water. Such reuse has more potential to directly redress imbalances between supply and demand than any of the other commonly used strategies, but in the urban context maximum benefit can generally be realised only with the use of dual pipe systems - one for reclaimed water and one for potable supply. In the UK, there is a culture against the principle of dual pipe systems based on fear of cross connections. For that reason, even today this option has not been taken up and is apparently not yet being given serious consideration although, according to the environmental regulator, the highly populated south-east of the country now has no additional water resources and the government has said that many thousands of new homes have to be built there. For the time being it is felt that other measures, such as more domestic metering and conservation in and around households, offer a more economic route to closing the gap.