Treated and Regulated Effluents of the U.S. Municipal Wastewater to Making Direct Potable Reuse (DPR)

摘要

The municipal wastewater (as generated) and the wet-weather flows are provided with secondary or up to tertiary wastewater treatment in the U.S. as per the applicable national pollutant discharge elimination system (NPDES) regulatory requirements and, thus, the final effluents are discharged back to watershed(s). These final effluents are suitable for industrial reuse; and, based on the quality of these regulated effluents, this water resource is started being noticed as "nonrevenue water". Currently, those regulated municipal wastewater effluents are considered U.S.-wide for indirect potable reuse (IPR) or direct potable reuse (DPR). This review is focused on DPR of municipal treated wastewater effluents. This paper includes a review of the: quality of treated wastewater effluents of the fifty (50) capital cities of the U.S.; advanced water treatment systems (AWTSs) for DPR; the current law, policy, and regulatory requirements (as available and selected) on DPR; the AWTSs' product-water quality; and, costs of DPR (as available). Recommendations are included on utilization of an effective preliminary water treatment step as part of AWTS, the DPR (concept) for effective usage of AWTS product water, and consideration of AWTS toward a separately regulated entity. The application of DPR can play a significant role toward an effective municipal water-infrastructure.