New Water Brew – Recycling Water for the Highest Purpose

As the demand for sustainable water supplies increases with a growing population, the attention has turned to potable water reuse, where treated wastewater is further purified to become a source of drinking water. Although the concept may still seem extraneous to the general public, water purveyors and utilities are already pilot testing and implementing full scale treatment around the world. This barrier of public perception, where the reuse factor greatly undervalues the benefits of purified water, is largely due to a lack of information presented to the public about how far today’s water treatment technologies have advanced. To address this, creative and engaging approaches to demonstrating potable water reuse can help to capture public attention and deliver the message about the safety and effectiveness of potable water reuse. Through a demonstration of the safety and effectiveness of potable water reuse to the public, communities can pave the way for towards more sustainable, drought-resilient management of the water resource. Efforts to promote the benefits of potable reuse, and increase demand, should not just be for municipal use, but also for commercial use. Research efforts that stimulate the use of highly purified water for potable purposes, such as beer brewing, is one way of engaging public stakeholders. Craft brewers have already shown interest in participating in potable reuse expositions as they are always seeking ways to make their practices more sustainable and economical. Therefore, the WateReuse Association formed a project team to produce potable recycled water for distribution to home brewers associations throughout the US for the purposes of demonstrating the effectiveness of advanced treatment technologies for potable reuse and increase public acceptance and awareness of potable reuse. A pilot scale system was operated at Hillsborough County Utilities tertiary reclaimed water facility in Tampa, FL, incorporating ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis, and advanced oxidation with ultraviolet light and peroxide. Results from the pilot study demonstrated that this treatment process produced high quality water drinking water. This project is the first direct potable reuse project in the state of Florida and provides an outstanding example of validating advanced technology for this application while developing an outreach and education approach to garner public acceptance. The presentation will discuss the project approach, results and plans for expanding this creative technology and outreach demonstration program across Florida.