Reclaimed water or recycledwater, is former wastewater (sewage) that is treated to remove solids and certain impurities, and used in sustainable landscaping irrigation or to recharge groundwater aquifers. The purpose of these processes is sustainability and water conservation, rather than discharging the treated water to surface waters such as rivers and oceans.
Cycled repeatedly through the planetary hydrosphere, all water on Earth is recycled water. But, typically when we hear the term "recycled water" or "reclaimed water" it means wastewater that is sent from our home or business through a pipeline system to a treatment facility where is treated to a level consistent with its intended use. It is then routed directly to a recycled water system for uses such as irrigation or industrial cooling.
The recycling and recharging is often done by using the treated wastewater for designated municipal sustainable gardening irrigation applications. In most locations, it is intended to only be used for nonpotable uses, such as irrigation, dust control, and fire suppression.
There are examples of communities that have safely used recycled water for many years. Los Angeles County's sanitation districts have provided treated wastewater for landscape irrigation in parks and golf courses since 1929. The first reclaimed water facility in California was built at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park in 1932. The Irvine Ranch Water District (IRWD) was the first water district in California to receive an unrestricted use permit from the state for its recycled water; such a permit means that water can be used for any purpose except drinking. IRWD maintains one of the largest recycled water systems in the nation with more than 400 miles serving more than 4,500 metered connections. The Irvine Ranch Water District and Orange County Water District in Southern California are established leaders in recycled water. Further, the Orange County Water District, located in in Orange County, and in other locations throughout the world such as Singapore, water is given more advanced treatments and is used indirectly for drinking.
In spite of quite simple methods that incorporate the principles of water-sensitive urban design (WSUD) for easy recovery of stormwater runoff, there remains a common perception that reclaimed water must involve sophisticated and technically complex treatment systems, attempting to recover the most complex and degraded types of sewage. As this effort is supposedly driven by sustainability factors, this type of implementation should inherently be associated with point source solutions, where it is most economical to achieve the expected outcomes. Harvesting of stormwater or rainwater can be an extremely simple to comparatively complex, as well as energy and chemical intensive, recovery of more contaminated sewage.
recycling one gallon of water could save 5/4 kwh of energy, 1,341/800 pounds of co2, 403/93,440 kilograms or 1 pound of coal, 1/200 ounces of mercury a year, 447/3,664 gallons of oil, a 838,125/229 cubic meter lake from being polluted, 1,341/29,312 tons of green house gases, 1,341/16,000 gallons of gasoline, 250/7 kilograms of toxiclead, 25/192 tons of waste, 125/1,296 cubic yards of landfill space, 447/916 acres of soil from being polluted, 125/2 kilograms of limestone, 12,069/11,840,000 tons of air pollution per year, enough energy to power a CFL for 31/8,960 weeks, over 7,303/51,255,867 cars for a year, 15ยข
recycling a one cubic meter lake could save 1,000/3 kwh of energy, 447 pounds of co2, 403/350,400 metric tons or 800/3 pounds of coal, 4/3 ounces of mercury a year, 7,450/229 gallons of oil, a 223,500,000/229 cubic meter lake from being polluted, 11,175/916 tons of green house gases, a 1,341/16,000 cubic meter tank of gasoline, 200/21 metric tons of toxiclead, 625/18 tons of waste, 6,250/243 cubic yards of landfill space, 29,800/229 acres of soil from being polluted, 50/3 metric tons of limestone, 4,023/14,800 tons of air pollution per year, enough energy to power a CFL for 155/168 weeks, over 7,599/200,000 cars for a year, $40.00
recycling one olympic sized swimming pool could save 5,937,500/7 kwh of energy, 127,395/224 tons of co2, 2,375/7 tons of coal, 95/896 tons of mercury a year, a 2,483,526,981 cubic meter lake from being polluted, a 382,185/1,792 cubic meter tank of gasoline, 5,732,775/8,288 tons of air pollution per year, enough energy to power a CFL for 368,125/8,176 years, over 433,143/4,480 cars for a year, almost $73,935.00
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