Case Studies that Demonstrate the Benefits of Water Reuse

This page describes the ways that water reuse is used to benefit communities across the United States and highlights example projects from across the U.S. that describe how a particular benefit drove the adoption of water reuse. Water reuse projects often provides multiple benefits, which can make water reuse more attractive.

On this page:

• General information about the benefits of water reuse
• Details about the benefits of water reuse and example projects

General information about the benefits of water reuse

Water reuse is used across the nation to provide a wide range of benefits including:

• Increase water supply
• Lower pollution in rivers, streams, and lakes
• Recharge underground aquifers
• Restore freshwater habitats
• Prevent flooding
• Build parks and recreational spaces
• Create new jobs

Benefits provided by reuse projects

This section describes the many benefits of water reuse projects and links users to case studies that provide project descriptions, information on policy considerations and financial and contractual information. 

Reliable Water Supply

Climate change is causing more severe droughts. Also, as populations expand, cities and towns need more water to support new homes and businesses. Water reuse can help cities and towns meet these growing water needs - even during droughts - because it creates a sustainable and reliable water supply from water that would be otherwise lost. Water reuse is also often cheaper than constructing new reservoirs or desalinating seawater.

Examples of Reliable Water Supply

• LA County diverts stormwater for beneficial reuse to reduce experienced water stress
• Native American tribe utilizes treated municipal wastewater for irrigation and wetland restoration
• City in Kansas uses lagoon system to treat wastewater for golf course irrigation (low-input technology)
• Microsoft reuses water which helps improve local groundwater supply in Washington State

Improved Water Quality

Pollution can degrade water quality and make surface waters too dirty for recreational, drinking, or wildlife habitat uses. Water reuse collects and treats polluted water so that it can be used again within a community. This practice reduces pollutant discharges, such as nutrients, while increasing the reliability of community water supplies. 

Examples of communities using water reuse to improve water quality 

• Fairfax, Virginia reuses water for landscaping and industrial cooling water
• LA County diverts stormwater for beneficial reuse to reduce experienced water stress
• Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation holds an onsite non-potable reuse competition to address rural water needs
• Brooklyn, NY leverages new development project to reduce potable demand and improve sewer capacity

Infrastructure Resilience

Climate change is threatening U.S. communities with more frequent and intense floods, droughts, and sea level rise. Flooding can overwhelm our sewers; droughts make drinking water scarcer; and sea level rise threatens to mix salty water into our fresh drinking water. Water reuse can help lower the volume of stormwater that flows into city sewers and help cities to secure a water supply that does not depend on the rain.  Water reuse can also be used to create freshwater barriers underground that prevent seawater from contaminating drinking water. 

Examples of  water reuse supporting Infrastructure Resilience 

• Brooklyn, NY leverages new development project to reduce potable demand and improve sewer capacity
• LA County diverts stormwater for beneficial reuse to reduce experienced water stress
• Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation holds an onsite non-potable reuse competition to address rural water needs
• Microsoft reuses water which helps improve local groundwater supply in Washington State

Ecological Restoration

Habitat loss threatens wildlife and the ability of ecosystems to freely provide humans with food, clean water, and clean air. Water reuse can help restore ecosystems by providing them with a consistent water source. For example, wetlands can be created near wastewater treatment plants, and reused water can be used to help maintain health streamflow to support aquatic species. In arid regions, such as the desert southwest, treated wastewater and stormwater may be the sole source of water for important habitats.

Economic Resilience 

Water reuse can benefit the local economy of a community by lowering the overall cost of infrastructure over its lifetime. For example, water reuse projects that capture and treat stormwater before infiltrating it into the ground can help prevent sewers from being overwhelmed with too much water. This lowers the cost to clean up sewer overflows and to treat the smaller volume of sewage flowing into the downstream wastewater treatment plant. Water reuse investments can also create new kinds of green jobs in the public and private sector and lower the cost of finding, buying, and transporting conventional water supplies from further away.     

Examples of water reuse providing economic resilience

• Microsoft reuses water which helps improve local groundwater supply in Washington State
• City in Kansas uses lagoon system to treat wastewater for golf course irrigation (low-input technology)
• Brooklyn, NY leverages new development project to reduce potable demand and improve sewer capacity

Critical Water Access 

Due to their remoteness and small size, rural and underserved communities in the U.S. may lack access to adequate or reliable water and wastewater treatment services.   Water reuse can be an way to improve water supplies or sanitation. Onsite water reuse is especially attractive in areas where it is impractical to build large, centralized treatment plants. 

Examples of water reuse supporting critical water access in communities 

• Alaska Department of Environmental Conservation holds an onsite non-potable reuse competition to address rural water needs
• Brooklyn, NY leverages new development project to reduce potable demand and improve sewer capacity