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The
increasing demand for water supply and wastewater
treatment has generally been defined in terms of a linear logic – water
is delivered to a municipality and taken away – to be out
of sight/out of mind. Over time with more and more of us living
closer and closer together, water supplies have been brought
from farther away and discharge of treated effluent has is occurring
closer to population centers in developing cities. A new management
strategy is needed that recognizes the need to appropriately
utilize the terrestrial water cycle. This paper will suggest
that Total Water Management (TWM) should be considered within
this broader concept.
In
TWM, cost and perceived water quality have the greatest potential
for creating conflict within the community. For example, reclaimed
water reuse or recycling has the unique characteristic of supporting
or supplementing water supply but may be unacceptable to water
users due to potential health concerns. Or, desalination can
be costly and its environmental impacts can be significant
if not appropriately planned and designed. Environmental and
growth issues are driving attention toward more integrated
thinking involving all aspects of water supply –including
reuse. An example is the opportunity to reduce cost via reuse
instead of employing higher level of treatment that may be needed
to continue to discharge or to accommodate growth in load. At
the same time we find that we need to reduce withdrawals from
our rivers to accommodate environmental flows.
This paper presents the TWM concept, identifies issues, approaches,
and benefits of developing plans based on that concept, and examines
two cases where such plans were used successfully, namely, the
Town of Cary, North Carolina and Clayton County, Georgia. |
