EPA Research Partner Support Story: Assessment model for new water reuse technologies

Partners: State of California and San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC)
Challenge: Providing sufficient, quality water to meet increasing demands
Resource: Assessment modeling for introduction of novel water reuse technologies
Project Period: 2017 – Present

Climate change stressors (e.g., drought, sea level inundation, flooding) and challenges in maintaining centralized water infrastructure has led to increasing development of new approaches to water systems coupling reuse and decentralization.  Cities and states need to provide clear guidance on treatment requirements for these new treatment systems, as well as better understand the most cost-effective, sustainable approaches for implementation of decentralized water reuse. The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) leads an effort to implement decentralized non-potable water systems that involves a group of stakeholders from across the country, including a range of water utilities (Austin, Denver, Los Angeles, Portland, Seattle and Washington, DC) and public health departments (California, Colorado, Hawaii, Minnesota, Washington and New York City).

 “SFPUC values the support EPA ORD provides to both SFPUC and the NBRC. Their research  is targeted and relevant to the needs of the  decentralized water systems community, and their unbiased and engaged expertise is an extremely valuable part of the guidance and recommendations we produce.” – SFPUC, Director of Water Resources Paula Kehoe

EPA ORD is assisting the efforts of this group, called the National Blue Ribbon Commission on Onsite Water Systems (NBRC), by developing and assessing the risk-based log reduction targets related to fit-for-purpose water use.  Initial ORD research directly supported a 2017 report by the NBRC, and continued refinements in ORD risk modeling are reflected in a 2023 NRBC update. In April 2024, ORD collaborated with the NBRC and the WateReuse Association to develop and conduct a summit which included over 40 presenters and 200 attendees from across the country to share experiences associated with implementing onsite water reuse systems. One outcome of the summit was an action plan for accelerating the adoption of onsite water systems  These documents, as well as others generated by the  NRBC, can be found here.

 ORD work also involves assessment of the life cycle costs, and potential environmental (particularly energy) and human health impacts, of onsite water systems. This work provides state and various utilities and public health departments with a system-level approach and framework to quantitatively evaluate the tradeoffs that exist among alternative processes and identify which configuration delivers a robust and sustainable water system design. This includes an on-line tool for conducting these life cycle analyses for buildings of various sizes at any zip code in the continental US.

More information on EPA’s research on non-potable water reuse can be found here.