More than 600 water reuse professionals gathered in Austin, Texas September 9-12 to learn what’s working, what’s new, and what’s next in water recycling. Reflecting the largest attendance at the Annual WateReuse Symposium in nearly a decade, participants came from 34 U.S. states, the District of Columbia, and nine countries for the nation’s premier conference on water reuse. The Annual WateReuse Symposium included more than 90 technical presentations, nine panel discussions, six plenary sessions, and the Water Reuse 101 Boot Camp.

Opening General Session Keynote: Astronaut Captain Scott Kelly

Monday morning’s Opening General Session featured a keynote address by Astronaut Captain Scott Kelly (retired). Captain Kelly discussed his inspiring journey from underachiever to record holding astronaut. He used his journey to space to illustrate that we can achieve anything we imagine by taking small, manageable steps. View the keynote address.

Opening Session Plenary Roundtable: Business Thought Leaders on Water Reuse  

The Opening General Session also included a roundtable discussion with key water business leaders about where they expect market growth to be for water recycling nationally and internationally. Carollo CEO B. Narayanan indicated that his company’s business has seen continuous growth in the water reuse market and he expects that to continue. Cindy Wallis-Lage, President of Black & Veatch’s Global Water Business, emphasized the importance of integration, education, and innovation to develop successful water management strategies. Patrick Decker, CEO of Xylem, said that while water issues are intensifying, advances in technology are creating new possibilities. Heiner Markhoff, CEO of Suez Water Technologies & Solutions, emphasized that it is time to change our global thinking about water as a waste product to take control of our water future.

Tuesday Breakfast Plenary: What’s the Federal Role in Water Recycling?

The second full day of the Annual WateReuse Symposium began with a breakfast plenary session on the federal role in water recycling sponsored by HDR. While there are no federal regulations for water reuse, Dr. Ryan Albert of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency discussed the EPA’s guidelines for reuse and pointed out that both the Safe Drinking Water and Clean Drinking Water acts are the foundation for state and local regulations. John Sarinsky of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) discussed the statistics on water borne illnesses and pointed out that public will often suspect reuse when an outbreak occurs in an area where water is recycled. However, Sarinsky stated emphatically that the CDC has never found a case of a water borne illness caused by recycled water.

Tuesday Luncheon Plenary: The New Frontier of Water Reuse 

A panel of utility leaders from the east coast and Midwest discussed why they are exploring water recycling as part of their water management portfolio despite their location in water-rich states. Rudy Chow, Director of the Baltimore City Department of Public Works said Baltimore is exploring decentralized water recycling for redevelopment projects that otherwise could not go forward because of capacity restraints at the city’s centralized wastewater facilities. Deborah Manning with the Metropolitan Council Environmental Services serving the Twin Cities explained that due to over pumping of groundwater supplies, the state of 10,000 lakes is seeing lake levels plunge which is driving her agency toward water recycling to help replenish those supplies.

Todd Hill, Deputy Commissioner with the City of Atlanta Office of Watershed said that because of the city’s strict stormwater management permit, the city captures and reuses much of the rainfall that occurs, which last year amounted to over 50 million gallons. Finally, Debra Shore, Commissioner with the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District of Greater Chicago discussed Chicago’s early efforts at water recycling and expects it will grow as the Chicago region addresses its sustainability goals. The panel was moderated by Karen Pallansch of Alexandria Renew Enterprises and sponsored by Carollo Engineers.

Wednesday Plenaries: Context and Steps Forward

The final day of the Annual WateReuse Symposium opened with a breakfast plenary keynote from Dr. David Sedlak, Deputy Director of the ReNuwIt program at the University of California, Berkley. Dr. Sedlak provided thoughts on the unfinished work left to advance water recycling in the U.S. He challenged utilities and businesses to partner with academics to find innovative ways to make water reuse more affordable for local communities.

The second plenary of the morning, Texas: Defacto to Direct, presented the broad spectrum of potable water reuse in Texas and discussed the challenges of balancing risk and cost when planning and implementing water reuse projects. Ellen McDonald of Alan Plummer Associates, Inc. presented water quality testing data to demonstrate the effectiveness of treatment standards. Eve Steinle-Darling of Carollo Engineers advocated for a unified approach in regulating potable reuse based on current drinking water standards. Daniel Nix of the City of Wichita Falls, Texas provided an overview of his community’s experience with both direct and indirect potable reuse to illustrate the importance of considering both human health and environmental health in planning potable reuse projects. Deborah Nagle of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency discussed a recent EPA report on potable reuse and noted the agency’s support of potable reuse.

The final plenary of the Annual WateReuse Symposium, Has Direct Potable Reuse Finally Arrived?, featured a panel from several U.S. states to discuss the varying regulatory approaches across the country. Arizona has taken a collaborative approach to developing potable reuse regulations with utilities, regulators, and stakeholder jointly developing an initial regulatory framework document, said Dave Dunaway of the Arizona Department of Environmental Quality. Brandi Honeycutt of the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment said that Colorado is following a similar approach with developing a collaborative framework document, but must consider Colorado’s unique water rights issues. Robert Mace from the Meadows Center for Water and the Environment said that Texas has thus far taken a boutique approach to permitting potable reuse, considering each project on a case by case basis. Jennifer West, Managing Director of WateReuse California, explained that the California Legislature considered and mandated regulations for various type of potable reuse, some of which are still in development. Lynn Spivey, who chairs the Florida Potable Reuse Commission and is Director of Utilities of the City of Plant City, said that the Florida Potable Reuse Commission is meeting monthly to identify issues that need to be considered in regulatory development.

Networking Events: Opportunities to Share Knowledge and Have Fun  

From a Sunday evening Welcome Reception sponsored by Alan Plummer Associates, Inc. to refreshment breaks in the exhibit hall, the Symposium included many opportunities to learn and network with other colleagues. On Monday evening, an optional river cruise and bat sightseeing tour sponsored by Brown and Caldwell provided an opportunity for participants to unwind and connect with fellow participants. On Tuesday, the Women in Water Networking Happy Hour was followed by a networking dinner with live music sponsored by Xylem. The AZ Pure Water Brew Trailer was parked across the street during the final network to allow tours of the mobile advanced water treatment facility.

Congress passed its first appropriations package for fiscal year 2019 last week, first in the Senate on September 12 followed by the House on September 13. This first minibus appropriations package includes the FY19 Energy and Water appropriations bill, which funds Bureau of Reclamation programs. Title XVI received $58.6 million – a compromise level between the House and Senate proposed funding levels of $65 million and $54.4 million respectively. Of the total Title XVI funding, $20 million is allocated for the competitive grant program established in the 2016 Water Infrastructure Improvements for the Nation (WIIN) Act (Title XVI-WIIN). Once the President signs this minibus into law, the $50 million authorization cap for Title XVI-WIIN will be reached. WateReuse is working on a proposal to reauthorize Title XVI-WIIN to ensure that federal funding for water reuse projects in the West continues.

With the September 30 budget deadline quickly approaching, congressional leaders have also reached an agreement to pass a stopgap government funding bill through December 7 to allow Congress more time to complete work on further minibus appropriations bills. The Senate will likely vote on the stopgap next week and the House the following week.

The House passed S. 3021, America’s Water Infrastructure Act of 2018, on September 13 by voice vote. S. 3021 is a negotiated version of the 2018 Water Resources Development Act (WRDA) that the House and Senate worked on over the past few weeks prior to voting on the bill. The House had already passed a narrower version of the bill earlier this year. However, the House and Senate worked on a new version of WRDA to land on an agreement that can be swiftly passed in both chambers without the need for a long and difficult conference negotiation. The Senate is expected to vote on S. 3021 as early as next week, although the timing and outlook is not certain. The negotiated WRDA bill also retains several provisions (or amended versions) from the Senate WRDA bill (S.2800) that would help water recycling nationally.

• 1164. Local Government Water Management Plans.
  • This section helps advance water reuse by aligning water resources development projects supported by the Army Corps of Engineers with local water management plans. Many local management plans include projects such as stormwater capture and reuse, water recycling, and aquifer recharge. WateReuse led a coalition effort to include this language in WRDA.
• 2004. Sense of Congress relating to access to nonpotable water.
  • A Sense of Congress encouraging the use of non-potable water recycling to address water demand challenges, particularly for industrial applications, would send an important signal to both the private and public sectors to consider a water recycling approach for their water supply needs.
• 2005. Drinking water infrastructure resilience and sustainability.
  • This section establishes a grant program for resilient and sustainable drinking water infrastructure. Water reuse provides a sustainable and secure supply of water and can help water systems adapt to changing hydrologic conditions. This grant program would help fund critical water reuse infrastructure for water resiliency and sustainability.
• 2007. Innovative water technology grant program.
  • This section establishes a grant program for innovative water technology including water reuse or recycling and technologies to increase water supplies for two years at $10 million annually.
• Section 2023. Authorization for capitalization grants to States for State Drinking Water Treatment Revolving
  • This section includes a three-year DWSRF reauthorization at increasing funding levels with increasing funding levels. The DWSRF can be used to finance water reuse projects.
• 4101. Stormwater infrastructure funding task force.
  • Stormwater recycling is increasingly being adopted to augment water supplies and can be an effective tool for stormwater management. The task force report would be a good opportunity to examine the benefits of stormwater recycling infrastructure.
• Section 4102. Wastewater technology clearinghouse.
  • This section directs the EPA Administrator to disseminate information about on cost-effective and alternative wastewater recycling and treatment technologies.
• 4106. Sewer overflow control grants.
  • This section renames the “sewer overflow control grants” to “sewer overflow and stormwater reuse municipal grants”. These grants will support municipal efforts capture and recycle stormwater.
• 4201. WIFIA reauthorization and innovative financing for State loan funds.
  • WIFIA is a critical financing tool for water infrastructure including water reuse infrastructure. In the first round of WIFIA financing, three of the twelve projects selected are water reuse projects. It is important to reauthorize WIFIA to continue to provide this low-cost financing tool for water recycling infrastructure. And allowing state infrastructure financing authorities access to low-interest loans through the WIFIA program to address State Revolving Fund backlogs would provide one more tool in the toolbox for communities to access financing needed to construct water reuse infrastructure.
• 4301. Agreement with Commissioner of Reclamation
  • This section directs the EPA to enter into an agreement with the Bureau of Reclamation to allow EPA to service loans for Reclamation through WIFIA.

While the package authorizes the Environmental Protection Agency’s WaterSense program, which identifies and promotes water efficient products through voluntary labeling, it does not include a provision requiring that water quality impacts of products be assessed before receiving the label. This language is important to ensure that products receiving the WaterSense label would not inadvertently impact the advanced treatment processes used to recycle water by introducing contaminants into effluent. WateReuse will continue to work to see passage of this language in the future.

WateReuse California recently took a support position on Proposition 3 – a $8.8 billion bond measure that contains $400 million for local recycled water projects. The measure will be on the November 2018 ballot. If passed by voters, the funds will be managed by the state water board and made available for grants and loans for potable and non-potable projects of all kinds.

The bond’s recycled water language is as follows:

The sum of four hundred million dollars ($400,000,000) is appropriated from the Fund to the State board to award grants and loans to eligible entities as defined in subdivision (a) of Section 86166 on a competitive basis for wastewater recycling projects. Grants pursuant to this section may be made for all of the following: (a) Water recycling projects, including, but not limited to, treatment, storage, conveyance, brine disposal, and distribution facilities for potable and nonpotable recycling projects. (b) Dedicated distribution infrastructure to serve residential, commercial, agricultural, fish and wildlife habitat, and industrial end-user retrofit projects to allow use of recycled water. (c) Pilot projects for new potable reuse and contaminant removal technology. (d) Multi-benefit recycled water projects that improve water quality. (e) Multi-benefit recycled water projects that protect, conserve and restore wetland and other wildlife habitat. (f) Technical assistance and grant writing assistance related to specific projects for disadvantaged communities and economically distressed areas.

WateReuse Association member Kennedy/Jenks Consultants recently announced Dawn Taffler’s promotion to One Water Community Practice lead. A recognized specialist in recycled water and planning, Taffler focuses on helping Kennedy/Jenks clients diversify their portfolios of local and imported surface water, groundwater, stormwater, and recycled water to make for a resilient and secure future.

Keith London, President & CEO, announced Dawn’s promotion to Vice President and her new role as One Water Community Practice lead in recognition of her passion, commitment and expertise in working hand-in-hand with clients,. Kennedy/Jenks’ Board of Directors also recognized her for leading multi-disciplinary teams to find innovative solutions to resolve water management issues in the arid West.

Dawn has been an active in the WateReuse Association for over a decade; having served as the President/Vice President of the Northern California Chapter and on the WateReuse California Board of Trustees. She has chaired committees at many of the annual conferences and has been involved as the Awards Committee Chair for the 2016-2018 symposiums. In recognition of her dedication to the organization and expertise in reuse, Dawn was selected to serve as a Board Member at Large for WateReuse California in 2017.

The WateReuse Association recognized the best and the brightest in the water reuse sector during the Annual Awards for Excellence luncheon on Monday, September 10 during the 33rd Annual WateReuse Symposium in Austin, Texas. The awards program recognizes individuals, projects, and organizations that have made significant contributions in support of greater adoption of water reuse.

Community Water Champion

The Community Water Champion Award recognizes utilities or local government entities that showcase exemplary water reuse projects, systems, or facilities that demonstrate the value of water reuse to the community served by them. The following Community Champion Awards were presented:

• The City of Los Angeles, LA Sanitation developed the One Water LA 2040 Plan, a holistic and multi-agency approach that considers all water resources as “One Water” – including surface water, groundwater, potable water, wastewater, recycled water, dry-weather runoff, and stormwater.
• The cities of Modesto and Turlock in collaboration with Del Puerto Water District established the North Valley Regional Recycled Water Program to deliver recycled water for agriculture in California’s Central Valley.
• A $9 million wastewater treatment plant expansion and 17 acres of constructed wetlands helped the City of Silverton, Oregon meet stringent regulations and create Oregon Garden, a 220-acre world-class botanical garden designed to further treat wastewater and revitalize the local tourism economy.

Excellence in Action

The Excellence in Action Award recognizes users of recycled water, including utility customers, commercial enterprises, government agencies, NGOs, or partnerships between utilities and their customers, to showcase how recycled water is used for commercial operations, watershed restoration projects, irrigation or other projects. The following Excellence in Action Awards were presented:

• The Anne Arundel County Department of Public Works (Maryland) and Raven Power entered into an agreement to supply treated effluent to the Brandon Shores Power Plant for cooling purposes, resulting in a cost savings of $13 million.
• The City of Show Low, Arizona, in partnership with the U.S. Forest Service and the Arizona Game and Fish Commission, created the Show Low Wetlands, a 250-acre constructed wetland that uses recycled water to establish a habitat for fish, waterfowl and other wildlife in the area.
• Irvine Ranch Water District partnered with Hyatt House Irvine to plan for and construct California’s first dual-plumbed hotel facility that includes all toilets and urinals – including in 149 guest rooms, lobby area, pool area and employee facilities.

Transformational Innovation

The Transformational Innovation Award recognizes technological advances, research breakthroughs, and/or innovative practices that advance the adoption, implementation and/or public acceptance of recycled water. The following Transformational Innovation Awards were presented:

• The Arizona Pure Water Brew Challenge brought together Arizona wastewater treatment facilities, a fully operational mobile advanced water purification facility, brewers, and the issuance of Arizona’s first potable reuse permit for education and a contest for the best beer brewed with purified water.
• The National Science Foundation and the University of Miami collaborated on an Emerging Frontiers in Research and Innovation (EFRI) project entitled “Design for Autonomous Net-Zero Water Buildings.” They project developed an onsite recycling system that was successfully used in a dormitory for 12 months.
• The Gwinnett County Department of Water Resources (Georgia) partnered with CDM Smith and Stantec to evaluate more economical alternatives for inland potable reuse through a collaborative Water Research Foundation project, Pilot Testing of Ozone Biofiltration for Direct Potable Reuse.

Advocacy Achievement

The Advocacy Achievement Awards recognizes individuals and organizations for significant achievements in advancing policy reforms that facilitate greater adoption, implementation or acceptance of recycled water, and/or has provided exemplary service to the water reuse sector. The following Advocacy Achievement Awards were presented:

• Michael Graves, Vice President, Garver, has been successful in both setting the pace for legislative and regulatory guidance as well as demonstrating leadership, creativity and persistence in supporting water reuse across Oklahoma.
• Rick Warner, Senior Engineer, Washoe County, Nevada has been at the forefront of potable water reuse advocacy within the U.S. and around the world in his roles as past president of the Water Environment Federation and as senior engineer for Washoe County, Nevada.
• WateReuse Colorado developed a Colorado direct potable reuse (DPR) regulatory framework and partnered on the PureWater Colorado Direct Potable Reuse Demonstration project to advance potable reuse in the state.

Outreach and Education

The Outreach and Education Award recognizes significant success in advancing public acceptance of recycled water. The following Outreach and Education Award was presented:

• On a shoestring budget and with only eight weeks to debut at an open house event, the Soquel Creek Water District developed the Pure Water Soquel Mobile Educational Trailer, creating a fun and education experience for audiences.

Up and Comer

The Up and Comer Award recognizes a water reuse professional with less than 10 years in the recycled water sector for his/her leadership and commitment to pursuing water recycling as a career path. The following Up and Comer Award was presented:

• Pranjali S. Kumar, Environmental Engineer, Carollo Engineers is only four years into her professional career, but she has been a key staff member of three industry leading potable reuse pilot projects.

WateReuse President’s Award

This award recognizes significant contributions to the advancement of water reuse through exceptional service and leadership. WateReuse President Paul Jones of the Eastern Municipal Water District presented the following President’s Awards:

• The City of Wichita Falls implemented the first high profile direct potable reuse project in the United States in 2014 and successfully engaged the city’s medical community to address public concerns.
• Tom Taggart, Executive Director, Public Services, City of San Marcos, Texas is immediate past President of WateReuse Texas and Executive Director of Public Services for the City of San Marcos where he leads and directs the city’s water, electric, and transportation services divisions. He is a vocal advocate for water reuse in Texas.

Lifetime Achievement

Margie Nellor is nationally recognized as an expert on clean water issues dealing with the development and implementation of water quality standards, total maximum daily loads, and pretreatment regulations. Margie has had a tremendous impact on advancing water reuse, including service as President of the WateReuse Association.