Water Reuse is a Sustainable Water Supply for UK Industry

CIWEM believes that water reuse should play an important part in achieving more sustainable water management in the UK.

Water is essential to industry for processes such as cooling, heating, diluting, transportation and sanitation. Businesses have financial and environmental incentives to reduce their consumption of mains-supplied potable water, so alongside demand management there is a need to source alternative water supplies. Water reuse involves suitably treated wastewater from one process being reused for a new purpose.

In a new briefing report CIWEM examines the potential benefits to society from industry reusing water, including greater environmental flows for freshwater wildlife and water-based recreation and the freeing-up of potable quality water for domestic consumers. For industry, water reuse provides a more drought-resistant water supply and potential financial savings. CIWEM suggests that where potential sustainability concerns such as the energy usage required to treat and distribute the water and disposing of concentrate have been resolved, water reuse can be sustainable. CIWEM believes it should be an integral part of a suite of water demand and supply management measures that together can bring about more sustainable water management in the UK. The report concludes by highlighting five factors that are critical to facilitating sustainable water reuse in the UK.

Copies of the briefing report are available online at http://www.ciwem.org/resources/ or in hard copy format upon request.