Developing Water Reuse Regulations/A State-Level Guide: Water Reuse Association Issues Guide

The Water Reuse Association (“WRA”) issued a document titled:

Developing Water Reuse Regulations: A State-Level Guide (“Guide”).

Identified as co-authors of the Guide are:

• Brown and Caldwell.
• Hazen.

Funding partners include:

• WateReuse.
• Association of Metropolitan Water Agencies.
• American Water Works Association.
• National Association of Clean Water Agencies.
• Water Environment Federation.

The Guide, by way of introduction, states that water reuse is increasingly being explored across the United States to:

• Address water supply reliability.
• Support economic development.
• Protect environmental resources.
• Enhance community resilience.

Successful adoption of water reuse is stated to depend on a combination of factors, including:

• Public confidence.
• Technical and scientific understanding.
• Funding and implementation support.
• Governance structures.
• Regulatory frameworks.

The Guide states that policy plays an important role in defining how water reuse is evaluated, implemented, and overseen.

Additional introductory points raised in the Guide include:

• Water reuse is primarily state-led.
• States vary in their approaches.
• Water reuse takes many forms.

The Guide is intended to be applicable to the various types of water reuse forms, including:

• Potable.
• Non‑potable.
• Industrial.
• Onsite water reuse applications.
  • Commercial.
  • Residential.

An objective of the Guide is to help stakeholders participate in or facilitate water reuse policymaking through the “arc of the development process.”

This is stated to include:

• Providing a framework for how to engage in state-level rulemaking process.
• Exploring specific technical considerations that go into rule development and how they integrate with legal, technical, public health and implementation considerations.
• Providing examples and case studies for how others have navigated rulemaking for water reuse.
• Presenting examples and applications for different types of water reuse.

The Guide makes clear that it does not:

• Replace current statutes, regulations, guidance, or consultation with responsible regulatory authorities.
• Recommend a uniform state or federal regulatory model.
• Provide templates with regulatory language.
• Provide recommendations for drafting legislative proposals or statutory development.

A copy of the Guide can be found here.