Evaluation of Economic Viability and Benefits of Urban Water Reuse and its Contribution to Sustainable Development

The main objective of this paper is to present and discuss the results of full-scale operation of five water reuse schemes using membranes for the production of high-quality recycled water for golf courses, landscape irrigation and other urban uses. The most important benefit is that it frees an equivalent volume of potable water for basic human needs. Reliability of supply of recycled water in times of drought, when potable water may be withheld from use for landscape irrigation, becomes a particularly important benefit to those for whom maintenance of an attractive landscape at all times is critical and when strong restrictions on water consumption are applied. In this context, membrane tertiary treatment appears as economically viable solution with addition al benefit of increasing the trust of end-users in health safety of recycled water.