Due to the increasing pressure caused by economic and demographic expansion on water resources, increasing numbers of regions are recycling their wastewater. The recycling units that are built can have various functions:

  • To mitigate a temporary lack of drinking water, in zones subject to drought. In Brisbane (Australia), a recycling unit helps supply a reservoir of drinkable water if the level of reserves falls too low;
  • To be used for industrial production, agricultural irrigation or to water the parks, as in San Luis Potosi or in Milan, Italy.
  • To supply the population of large metropolises with drinking water. In Singapore, recycled water, called "NEWater", now constitutes 1% of the drinking water consumed.

Given the forecast demographic trends around the world and the risks involved in the concentration of millions of people in the metropolises of the developing countries, recycling wastewater would seem to be a remarkable means of guaranteeing access to drinking water for the greatest number. Indeed, wastewater is the only resource which increases at the same rate as consumption. What remains to be done is to inform the population about the quality of water produced by recycling.

Recycling wastewater, however, comes up against consumer reticence, often referred as the "yuck factor". The detractors of this process assert that the water goes "from toilet to tap" without specifying that the water passes through the natural environment first.

However, as the Director of Institutional Relations at SUEZ ENVIRONNEMENT, Jacques Labre explains: "the water passes through the natural environment, which partially overcomes the psychological barrier on the one hand, and on the other hand the treatment is enhanced because the ecosystems act as an additional filter".

Louise Karsgaard, a research worker at the technological University of Singapore admits that "the psychological barrier is still quite strong" but remains convinced that "that will change in the future. The barrier depends a lot on trust in technology".

There have been some major changes in recent years. As illustrated by an article In the Los Angeles Times of June 2008, the increasing severity of the water stress with which California is confronted is gradually wearing down user repugnance with respect to wastewater recycling. Whereas a project had to be abandoned in the Nineties, the idea of recycling wastewater has resurfaced without inciting any major opposition. In Palestine, the recycling of wastewater for agricultural irrigation is widely accepted by the population and the farmers who are aware of the difficulties the country has to face in supplying it with drinking water.

These examples show that psychological barriers to wastewater recycling can be overcome, subject to the following conditions:

  • That users can be shown the utility of the solution
  • That compliance with health standards is guaranteed, backed by stringent, regular inspections and the publication of the results of the tests

 

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