New studies suggest that U.S. must reorganize efforts to reuse municipal wastewater if it hopes to increase future drinking supplies.

Scientists have grown increasingly concerned over the past decade over a drop in drinking water supplies. In Texas this past summer, for example, large portions of the state suffered through one of the longest and most severe droughts in history. The drop in rainwater eroded water supplies in portions of the state, prompting some communities to seek out alternative sources of drinking water.

Citing the results of a number of recent studies, researchers are increasingly urging lawmakers to derive new ways that wastewater treatment plants can be used to help offset dwindling drinking water supplies.

A new report from the National Research Council concluded that reuse of municipal wastewater could significantly augment the nation's available drinking water supplies. Reusing such water could also help allay concerns about the continued drop in available drinking water sources in the U.S.

"Wastewater reuse is poised to become a legitimate part of the nation's water supply portfolio given recent improvements to treatment processes," said R. Rhodes Trussell, the chairman of the committee that wrote the report. "Although reuse is not a panacea, wastewater discharged to the environment is of such quantity that it could measurably complement water from other sources and management strategies."

The reuse of wastewater has already helped some communities in the U.S. avoid the deleterious consequences of droughts and other natural phenomenon. In Texas, the reworking of the state's wastewater treatment system has helped ensure the Trinity River has not been affected by the record droughts plaguing the state, as treated wastewater provides a large portion of the river's total flow.

 

Posted on January 23rd, 2012 under Industrial Uses, Wastewater News, Water Conservation News