The US EPA is seeking the engagement of governmental and non-governmental water sector organizations to identify priority actions and to lead and collaborate on actions identified in the draft Action Plan. EPA is soliciting public input through a 90-day comment period in the public docket (docket number EPA-HQ-OW-2019-0174). Comment on or before December 16, 2019.
Draft National Water Reuse Action Plan
The draft National Water Reuse Action Plan highlights key actions that support consideration and implementation of water reuse across the water sector. Development of the draft Action Plan has involved significant collaboration among federal, state, tribal, and water sector stakeholders. The draft Action Plan is intended to seek commitments across these stakeholder groups and levels of government, and drive action across the nation. The plan consists of 46 proposed actions that support consideration and implementation of water reuse applications across 10 strategic objectives.
EPA is seeking the engagement of governmental and non-governmental water sector organizations to identify priority actions and to lead and collaborate on actions identified in the draft Action Plan. EPA is soliciting public input through a 90-day comment period in the public docket (docket number EPA-HQ-OW-2019-0174). Comment on or before December 16, 2019.
- Press Release: EPA Seeks Comment and Commitment on Draft National Water Reuse Action Plan (September 10, 2019)
- Federal Register Notice: Draft National Water Reuse Action Plan (September 16, 2019)
- Draft National Water Reuse Action Plan
Background on Water Reuse Action Plan Development
On February 27, 2019, EPA’s Assistant Administrator for Water, announced that the Agency would facilitate the development of a National Water Reuse Action Plan that will better integrate federal policy and leverage the expertise of both industry and government to ensure the effective use of the nation's water resources.
- Press Release: EPA Announces Development of Water Reuse Action Plan
- Press Release: EPA Seeks Public Input for Development of National Water Reuse Action Plan
Since this announcement, EPA and its partners have engaged in significant efforts to identify and characterize opportunities to foster the consideration and implementation of water reuse. Development of the draft Action Plan has been informed from five different types of sources:
- Analysis and summary of the water reuse literature (greater than 150 sources).
- Outreach and dialogue with our collaborators and partners through existing forums with over 2,300 participants.
- Public input submitted to the docket (more than 50 submissions).
- WateReuse Association expert convenings held in 2019.
- Review of selected international experiences.
- Review of water reuse case studies from relevant applications throughout the United States.
A previous public comment period to inform development of the draft Action Plan closed July 1, 2019. Those 56 comments can be accessed in the public docket at regulations.gov (docket number EPA-HQ-OW-2019-0174). EPA provided a discussion framework for the development of the draft action plan to frame the context of the draft National Water Reuse Action Plan during the public comment period.
Published: Wednesday, September 11, 2019
EPA released a plan yesterday aimed at spurring wastewater recycling and reuse.
The National Water Reuse Action Plan examines reuse programs across the nation and identifies ways to bring more projects online.
At the WateReuse Symposium in San Diego yesterday, EPA water chief David Ross said the plan is critical to responding to future freshwater shortages.
"Diversifying our nation's water portfolio must be a nationwide priority, and water reuse has the potential to ensure the viability of our water economy for generations to come," he said.
Indeed, 40 states expect to face freshwater shortages over the next decade, the plan says.
"Climate change will greatly increase the risk that water supplies will not be able to keep pace with demand, necessitating the need to develop new drought-proof supplies," it says.
The potential for wastewater recycling programs nationwide is large. Municipal wastewater facilities collectively treat an estimated 33 billion gallons per day, but only 2.2 billion gallons is recovered for reuse, with the rest being discharged.
At the same time, in 2012, nearly 1 million producing oil and gas wells nationwide produced about 2.4 billion gallons of wastewater a day. Roughly 45% of that was reused by oil and gas production operations, but the rest was disposed of in underground injection wells.
Agriculture, too, offers opportunities for water reuse. One 2019 study found that recycled water from agriculture could supply 17% of irrigation needs in the West and more than 75% of demand in Eastern states.
Different sources of water pose different reuse challenges. Wastewater from oil and gas production, for example, "varies widely in quality," according to the report, and much of it has a high saline content and contains other contaminants like oil and hydrocarbons.
Increasing reuse of agricultural runoff creates different obstacles, including that irrigation demands are seasonal.
But the report highlights that different sectors can and do recycle water from others. For example, oil and gas companies in Texas and Oklahoma have begun purchasing treated wastewater from municipalities to use in fracking. One 2014 contract between Apache Corp. and the city of College Station, Texas, is estimated to net the city $5 million.
There are no federal regulations governing water recycling projects, though laws like the Clean Water Act and Safe Drinking Water Act set baseline pollution levels for rivers, streams and drinking water. Water reuse-specific regulations, however, are largely left up to the states.
The EPA plan follows requests from oil producing states like New Mexico and Oklahoma asking EPA to allow them to issue discharge permits for wastewater reuse projects involving oil field wastewater.
The draft doesn't directly address those efforts. Instead, it sets goals such as compiling national estimates of available water and reuse needs and establishing goals for the extent and type of water reuse that should be allowed in the United States.
It also follows a memorandum signed by President Trump last year regarding "promoting the reliable supply and delivery of water in the West."
It was written in consultation with a number of federal agencies, including the departments of the Interior and Energy and the Council on Environmental Quality. Representatives from the agencies also attended and spoke at the WateReuse event in San Diego yesterday.
"Water scarcity is a real and pressing challenge for many parts of our country and is something this administration is dedicated to addressing," CEQ Chairwoman Mary Neumayr said.
WateReuse Association Executive Director Patricia Sinicropi celebrated the plan, calling it a "meaningful step to break down barriers and create opportunities for water recycling in the U.S."
"The actions outlined in the draft plan will help connect the dots and scale up recycling for a wide variety of important uses," she said.
The association consulted with EPA on the draft plan before its release, as did other water industry trade groups including the American Water Works Association, Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies, National Association of Clean Water Agencies, Water Environment Federation and Water Research Foundation.
Twitter: @arielwittenberg Email: awittenberg@eenews.net