Towards sustainability in water recycling

Those like us who believe in and spread the gospel of planned wastewater reclamation and reuse usually emphasize that this is a step towards sustainability in water resource management, but this is something that is very seldom analyzed. This paper discusses, from a critical point of view, issues such as goals in water reuse and influence on water demands, ecological analysis of the cycle of the main pollutants, health aspects and treatment requirements, energy consumption and measurable environmental benefits, in order to provide a set of criteria to assess sustainability in water recycling projects and to decrease the impact of the cultural water cycle on the environment.