Urban water reuse is a term generally applied to the use of reclaimed water for the beneficial irrigation of areas that are intended to be accessible to the public, such as golf courses, residential & commercial landscaping, parks, athletic fields, roadway medians, etc.
Expanded uses for reclaimed water may also include fire protection, aesthetic purposes (landscape impoundments and fountains), industrial uses and some agricultural irrigation.
Reclaimed water is domestic wastewater or a combination of domestic and industrial wastewater that has been treated to stringent effluent limitations such that the reclaimed water is suitable for use in areas of unrestricted public access. Since most areas where reclaimed water is to be used are designated for public access, protection of public health is the primary concern. Although utilization of reclaimed water will be beneficial, there is no guarantee that this source will provide all the water that is needed or desired.
Highly treated reclaimed water that meets the requirements of these guidelines is a valuable water resource. Wastewater treated to urban water reuse standards may be used in lieu of potable water for agricultural irrigation (feed crops), residential/commercial landscape irrigation, dust control, etc. The reclaimed water system is an integral part of the utility system and provides benefits to both the potable water and wastewater utilities.
Some of the substances that can be removed from wastewater include:
- Suspended solids
- Volatile organics
- Semi-volatile organics
- Oil and grease
- Hydrocarbons
- Metals
- BOD
- COD
- Color
- Odor
- Hardness
- Minerals
Reclamation processes:
Wastewater must pass through numerous systems before being returned to the environment. Here is a partial listing from one particular plant system:
- Barscreens – Barscreens remove large solids that are sent into a grinder. All solids are then dumped into a sewer pipe at a Treatment Plant.
- Primary Settling Tanks – Readily settable and floatable solids are removed from the wastewater. These solids are skimmed from the top and bottom of the tanks and sent to the Treatment Plant where it’ll be turned into fertilizer.
- Biological Treatment – The wastewater is cleaned through a biological treatment method that uses microorganisms, bacteria which digest the sludge and reduce the nutrient content. Air bubbles up to keep the organisms suspended and to supply oxygen to the aerobic bacteria so they can metabolize the food, convert it to energy, CO2, and water, and reproduce more microorganisms. This helps to remove ammonia also through nitrification.
- Secondary Settling Tanks – The force of the flow slows down as sewage enters these tanks, allowing the microorganisms to settle to the bottom. As they settle, other small particles suspended in the water are picked up, leaving behind clear wastewater. Some of the microorganisms that settle to the bottom are returned to the system to be used again.
- Tertiary Treatment – Deep-bed, single-media, gravity sand filters receive water from the secondary basins and filter out the remaining solids. As this is the final process to remove solids, the water in these filters is almost completely clear.
- Chlorine Contact Tanks – Three chlorine contact tanks disinfect the water to decrease the risks associated with discharging wastewater containing human pathogens. This step protects the quality of the waters that receive the wastewater discharge.
At various stages in the multistage treatment process, unwanted constituents are separated using
- Vacuum or pressure filtration,
- Centrifugation,
- Membrane-based separation,
- Distillation,
- Carbon-based and zeolite-based adsorption, and
- Advanced oxidation treatments.
Activated carbon is a highly adsorbent form of carbon that is produced when charcoal is heated. It removes impurities via adsorption from both aqueous and gaseous waste.
Membranes allow materials of a certain size or smaller to pass through but block the passage of larger materials. Imaginative arrays of membrane materials in innovative physical configurations are used to separate unwanted solids and dissolved chemicals from tainted water. During operation, purified water diffuses through the micro-porous membranes and collects on one side of the membrane, while impurities are captured and concentrated on the other side.
Today, membranes made from cellulose acetate, ceramics, and polymers are widely used. The applications come in a variety of innovative designs, including tubular, hollow-fiber, plate-and-frame, and spiral-wound configurations. The goals of membrane design are to
- Maximize the available surface area,
- Reduce membrane pore size (to allow for the more precise removal of smaller contaminants),
- Minimize the pressure drop the fluid will experience when flowing through the unit, and
- Identify more cost-effective system designs.
The addition of oxidizing agents—chemical ions that accept electrons—has proven effective against these microorganisms like waterborne viruses, bacteria, and intestinal protozoa. Today, a variety of advanced oxidation techniques kill such disease agents and disinfect water, thanks to ongoing developments pioneered by the chemical engineering community.
Historically, chlorine-based oxidation has been the most widely used, and it is very effective. However, the transportation, storage, and use of chlorine (which is highly toxic) present significant potential health and safety risks during water-treatment operations. To address these concerns chemical engineers and others have developed a variety of alternative oxidation treatments that are inherently safer, and in many cases more effective, than chlorination. These include Ultraviolet light,Hydrogen peroxide, and Ozone, each of these powerful oxidizing agents destroys unwanted organic contaminants and disinfects the treated water without the risks associated with chlorine use.
Considerations for constructing a water reclamation system:
In planning for urban reuse there are three major issues that must be considered prior to developing such a system.
The first issue is that year round wastewater treatment and disposal are required when designing any wastewater treatment facility. A water balance for the reclaimed water service area is needed to determine how much wastewater will be generated and how much irrigation demand there is for the reclaimed water. The wastewater generated may exceed the reclaimed water demand during portions of any given year. Therefore, a discharge permit, additional storage, or a designated land application site may be required.
The second issue which must be considered is the constituents (e.g. salts) that may be present in the reclaimed water and what effect(s) they may have on the cover crops that will be irrigated. For specialized users such as golf courses, nurseries, etc., a detailed evaluation of the effluent constituents may be necessary in order to determine whether or not they are candidates for urban reuse irrigation.
Third, Urban Water Reuse is not suitable for all wastewater treatment applications. The manpower requirements and permit reporting can make a reuse facility expensive for a small operation. The facility’s operator in responsible charge shall be a Class I Biological Wastewater Operator. Operation of reclaimed water systems requires on-site operation by a Class II Biological Wastewater Operator or higher operator 8 hours per day, 7 days per week. If the operator can monitor from a remote location and receive immediate notification for alarms, a reduced schedule for on-site operation by a Class II Biological Wastewater Operator or higher operator may be considered on a case-by-case basis.
Deciding how best to use wastewater begins with a laboratory analysis of the substances present in the water. Engineers work with each client to specify the laboratory tests that should be performed. Once that information has been obtained, our engineers and the client:
- Identify the various ways the water can be used in the specific facility
- Identify the substances to be removed from the water to make it suitable for each use
- Determine the process needed to re-condition the wastewater for each use
- Estimate how much water consumption would be saved by recycling and calculate the annual cost of the water
- Obtain a cost estimate for the required treatment system
- Compare the cost savings of reduced water consumption to the capital and operating expenses of the treatment system to determine whether the investment in recycling is cost-effective
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