October 1, 2018
Washington Update
WateReuse Supports Legislation to Extend NPDES Permits to 10 Years
WateReuse and Partners to Highlight Membrane Technology in Washington, DC
State Updates and Member Profile
Welcome New Members!
The WateReuse Association welcomes the following new member:
California: Study Documents Municipal Wastewater Discharges to Coastal Water Bodies
WateReuse Association member Heal the Ocean announced the release of The Inventory of Municipal Wastewater Discharges to California Coastal Water Bodies, an online interactive study that documents the 417 billion gallons of treated municipal wastewater discharged at fifty-seven coastal locations in the 2015 calendar year. The study notes that if California had recycled 63.3% of total municipal wastewater flows to coastal waters in 2015, it would have made its 2020 recycled water production goal. Learn More.
California: Padre Dam Hosts Successful Water Reuse Festival
WateReuse Association member Padre Dam Municipal Water District hosted more than 400 visitors during the East County Water Festival in Santee to celebrate water and learn about the East County Advanced Water Purification Program that will create a new drought proof drinking water supply using state-of-the-art technology to purify East San Diego County’s recycled water. The East County Advanced Water Purification Project is a regional partnership with Padre Dam, Helix Water District, City of El Cajon and the County of San Diego. Read More.
Florida: St. Johns River Makes Water Reuse a Budget Priority
WateReuse Association member the St John’s River Water Management District has set a budget of $142.5 million for 2018-19, covering projects including water reuse and aquifer recharge initiatives, and public-private partnerships. The budget provides for $54.92 million in cooperative funding, including up to $3.5 million to support water projects in economically disadvantaged rural communities and for innovative technologies, spring and priority water body protection and restoration, water conservation initiatives, and projects to enhance the use of reclaimed water. Read More.
Oregon: Clean Water Services Introduces Pure Water Wagon This Week
WateReuse Association member Clean Water Services introduces its new Pure Water Wagon at WEFTEC in New Orleans this week. Based in Hillsboro, Clean Water Services will take this wagon to public and industry events to provide a close-up look at technology that transforms what that goes down our drains into water that is clean and safe to reuse. Clean Water Services has been a leader in innovation and was the first utility to introduce reuse beer in 2015. Read More.
New York: New Facility Will Charge Electric Buses, Clean Buses with Reclaimed Water
U.S. Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand announced last week $2 million in federal U.S. Department of Transportation funding for the Rochester Genesee Regional Transportation Authority to help construct a new $10 million Advanced Environmental Service Building. The building will both support charging of new, low-pollution electric buses and use reclaimed water to clean buses to reduce the environmental impact and lower operational costs. The U.S. Department of Transportation provided this funding through the Bus and Bus Facilities Infrastructure Investment Program. Read More.
Texas: New Research Center to Study Better Water Purification Methods
A new multi-university research center headquartered in The University of Texas at Austin’s Cockrell School of Engineering will seek more creative approaches — and new materials — to use and reuse existing water and improve upon existing water purification methods. The Center for Materials for Water and Energy SysTems (M-WET) unites researchers from UT; the University of California, Santa Barbara; and Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory. The center has been launched through a four-year, $10.75 million grant from the U.S. Department of Energy and is part of the DOE’s Energy Frontiers Research Centers program. Read More.
Conferences and Events
Webcast: Reducing the Cost of Concentrate Disposal: Using a Novel Hybrid NF-RO to Enhance Sodium Chloride Removal
Concentrate disposal is a major cost for desalting operations, and for many water-recycling applications only partial desalting is needed, often targeting sodium chloride specifically. Please join us on November 14 at 2 p.m. to learn about a pilot study that was conducted to demonstrate the viability of a two-pass system, combining an NF pass with a second RO pass and blending the NF concentrate with the RO permeate. Findings indicate that sodium chloride can be preferentially removed from the recycled water, chemical and power consumption can be reduced when operated at system recoveries comparable to typical RO systems, and much higher recoveries are achievable with modest increases in power and chemical usage. Register Now!
Call for Abstracts: 2019 WateReuse California Annual Conference
WateReuse California is accepting abstracts through October 8, 2018 for a place on the program at the 2019 WateReuse California Annual Conference on March 17-19, 2019 at the Hyatt Regency Orange County in Garden Grove, CA. The conference is designed for individuals, organizations, and agencies that are associated with or interested in the use, design, management, and operation of water recycling facilities and projects in California. The conference will feature more than 40 technical presentations, poster presentations, technical tours, receptions, an awards luncheon, the annual Gordon Cologne Breakfast, and the ever-popular exhibition component. Submit an abstract!
Upcoming Events
Join us for our monthly New Technologies and Innovation committee virtual meetings. In August, we will have representatives from Raftelis share about the “Business Case of DPR”. As Florida’s traditional water supplies face increasing strain from population growth, aquifer limitations, and tightening environmental regulations, utilities are being forced to evaluate new strategies for securing long-term water supply. Direct potable reuse (DPR), the process of treating wastewater effluent to drinking water standards and reintroducing it into the potable supply, has emerged as a potentially cost-effective path forward.
This presentation explores the financial and strategic case for DPR in a future defined by reduced water availability and rising regulatory requirements. Using a representative Florida utility as a modeling framework, the analysis examines how the economics of DPR evolve as cheap supply sources are exhausted and emerging contaminant standards raise the baseline cost of wastewater treatment regardless of end use.
The analysis suggests that as treatment standards rise across the board, the incremental cost of advancing to full DPR becomes increasingly favorable, warranting a closer look at whether continued investment in conventional reuse infrastructure represents the best use of capital. Drawing on cost data from Florida utilities and national precedents from states already implementing DPR, the presentation provides a transparent, cost-based framework for evaluating DPR as a viable supply option.
The findings are intended to support informed public policy discussion and help utility leaders, regulators, and water management districts assess whether DPR warrants broader consideration as part of Florida’s long-term water supply strategy.
PRESENTERS:
Mark Tuma is a Manager at Raftelis whose practice focuses on rate design, cost-of-service analysis, revenue sufficiency, and impact fee development across water, wastewater, stormwater, gas, and solid waste utilities. With more than ten years of experience, he builds multi-year financial models and capital funding plans for local governments and utility authorities nationwide, including Fairfax County, the City of Orlando, Manatee County, Englewood Water District, and the Municipality of Anchorage. Mark constructs Excel-based analytical tools designed so that governing boards and community members can follow every calculation step by step. He is an active member of AWWA and the Florida Government Finance Officers Association, and has presented before the FSAWWA Finance and Rate Committee.
Thierry Boveri, CGFM is a Senior Vice President with Raftelis, a national financial and management consulting firm serving local governments and utilities. He advises municipalities across the United States on rate design, cost-of-service studies, capital planning, and long-term infrastructure funding for water and wastewater systems. Thierry is a lead author on several industry manuals of practice, including WEF Manual of Practice No. 27 and the WEF Water Reuse Roadmap. He works with city and county leadership teams to integrate financial forecasting with capital and operational planning, developing transparent rate structures that support resilient, financially sustainable water and wastewater programs.
If you would like to join, please email Jenny Taylor, WateReuse Florida’s managing director, at jtaylor@watereuse.org.
Join us in San Francisco for the 2026 WateReuse California Annual Conference! Hear from the leading practitioners of water reuse in California, learn about San Francisco’s leadership on onsite water recycling, and meet colleagues new and old in a fun and focused setting.
Register Now!
The National Water Reuse Action Plan 2.0 (WRAP 2.0) has officially launched and efforts have been live for a quarter! The U.S. EPA is focusing on incorporating the beverage industry, automotive sector, protein processing, and data centers into the WRAP 2.0. The reason behind this emphasis on industry is to align water reuse objectives with the EPA’s Five Pillars. Tune in to this webcast to get the full picture of how the water sector is building toward a more reuse-centric future!
Register Now!
Moderator:
- Greg Fogel, WateReuse Association, Director of Government Affairs and Policy
Presenters:
- Sharon Nappier, National Program Leader for Water Reuse, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
- Sargon de Jesus, Physical Scientist, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
Event Fees
- This event is free to the public
Professional Development Hours – 1 credit hour is available