We Wanted It to Go to Reuse, And They Said No (So What Do We Do About It?)

Posted January 5, 2009
By Rebecca West
President of the Water Environment Federation

Happy New Year Waterbloggers! I was going to blog about all my priorities for this year as WEF president, (yes, it’s true), but in the interests of space (and keeping your attention), I’ll cut right to the chase on what’s the biggest deal to me and maybe you, too. That priority is a focus on water reuse and how we maximize its effectiveness to relieve stressed global water supplies and underscore the connection to public health.

My thought is that to be successful, we have to look beyond the related science and technology to make it happen. In addition to the science and technology, the social, cultural, and economic aspects of what it means to make water reuse a commonly accepted practice to preserve our water resources must be addressed--science alone is one justification for the effective reuse practices that are so vital to sustainability of our water resources. We’ve all had or heard of experiences where communities have rejected water recycling or biosolids land application programs for reasons ranging from affordability to some sort of fecal phobia. Sort of like that popular song, we wanted it to go to reuse, they said no, no, no. That’s why a more holistic approach—and sharing that broader thinking through the water quality field--will be absolutely essential to successful water sustainability.

I’m very excited about WEF’s upcoming disinfection conference, Disinfection 2009, which happens February 28 to March 3 in Atlanta, Ga., where the social, cultural and economic aspects of how to translate the developed water research and technology into successful and sustainable programs for the disinfection of water resources in developing country environments will be addressed. Chaired by Gary Hunter (Black and Veatch) and Daniele Lantagne, (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), this event will also serve to ramp up that connection between our work and public health. I’m hoping we’ll see more training, conferences, and forums that add new dimensions to water reuse in the very near future.

Please take a few moments to let us know what you think about the importance of going beyond the science in public communications about water reuse. What has been your experience and how can we best educate the public and build awareness about the role of reuse in global water sustainability? It’s a big question for all of us, but it’s one that I know we can answer together.

12/14/2009 We Wanted It to Go to Reuse, And They Said No (So What Do We Do About It?)  ()   Posted January 5, 2009 Happy New Year Waterbloggers! I was going to blog about all my priorities for this year as WEF president, (yes, it’s true), but in the interests of space (and keeping your attention), I’ll cut right to the chase on what’s the biggest deal to me and maybe you, too. That priority is a focus on water reuse and how we maximize its effectiveness to relieve stressed global water supplies and underscore the connection to public health. Comments (4) Very interesting and inspiring article. Thanks for sharing your thoughts with us! I hope more and more people understand the above concept. It's very important if we want to move forward and save our planet! Posted by: catering (thodoris_cy@hotmail.com) on 08/30/2011 Just to notify you I follow your website via feed. A lot of people value your data, please keep up the good work! Posted by: Shanda Perrins (Van23@gmail.com) on 09/28/2011 Explain to people that all water is reused water and that rain water was dirty water that come back to the earth after it was distilled by mother nature. Posted by: free cams (Linko@yahoo.com) on 09/28/2011 Great post, subscribing to this! Posted by: off the shoulder shirts (starscreambeats@gmail.com) on 10/14/2011