2013 Kappe Lecturer George Tchobanoglous, professor emeritus in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of California Davis, will visit to give this lecture.

Abstract:

Population growth, urbanization, and climate change, are resulting in stressed public water supplies and development of new water supplies for metropolitan areas is becoming increasingly difficult, if not impossible.  As a consequence, existing water supplies must go further.  One approach for achieving this objective is by increased water reuse, particularly in supplementing municipal water supplies.  Although non-potable water reuse offers many opportunities, the cost associated with the need to provide separate piping and storage systems for reclaimed water is prohibitive and thus, implementation of water reuse programs has been limited.  The solution to the problem of distribution and storage cost is to implement direct potable reuse (DPR) of purified water. 

Direct potable reuse refers to the introduction of purified municipal wastewater water directly into municipal water supply systems.  Purification involves extensive treatment and monitoring to assure that strict water quality requirements are met at all times.  The resultant purified water can be blended with raw source water prior to water treatment or blended with potable water for direct pipe-to-pipe reuse.  Because DPR will inevitably become part of the water management portfolio, the importance of wastewater and water agencies beginning to develop the necessary information for implementation is great.  In planning for wastewater treatment upgrades or new plants that will be used to produce purified water, it is imperative that the incrementalism of the past be replaced with new integrated designs that will produce purified water and achieve the recovery of energy and resources. Technological and implementation issues are examined. The potential application of DPR in Southern California and implications for statewide water management are discussed.