United States
Environmental Protection
Agency
RESEARCH PROJECT
National Risk Management Research Laboratory
Water Supply and Water Resources Division
Urban Watershed Management Branch
TOTAL WATER MANAGEMENT
IMPACT STATEMENT
This project will investigate total water management (TWM) as a
way of improving water resource management and reducing
waste streams. This project will also improve management of
potable water, wastewater and wet-weather flow through
combined management, reuse and recycling will protect surface
and ground receiving waters and source waters, while also
reducing demand.
BACKGROUND:
TWM seeks to utilize water more efficiently through breaking down institutional barriers that designate water as
potable, waste or runoff. Waste streams become water sources instead of traditional utility water management that
provide consumers only potable water, which is discharged by consumers to a wastewater utility or septic system. The
traditional approach stresses our capacity to protect water sources and provide potable water, and the waste stream
requires significant infrastructure with little or no cost recovery of water. Many water utilities and municipalities are
moving to a TWM strategy to protect source waters and recover cost on treated effluent by providing consumers
multiple grades of water.
The concept of TWM requires a systemic view of an urban watershed. In TWM, water at different stages of the water
cycle is not seen as independent "types" of water, such as raw water, potable water, wastewater and runoff but rather
as a resource that undergoes a cycle, which can be managed holistically. Pollutants are not seen as specific attributes of
a "type" of water. Instead, they are seen as elements that the water will transport once they are introduced in the
water cycle at specific locations, and as a result of specific human activities and practices and natural processes. In
TWM, managers track where pollutants are introduced in the water cycle and how they are transformed and removed
from it, what is their ultimate fate and how managing decisions can impact that fate and transport.
DESCRIPTION:
The National Risk Management Research Laboratory, of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) Office of
Research and Development, has funded this research project in support of its Aging Water Infrastructure (AWI) Research
Program. This project will identify and evaluate approaches for water reuse and recycling non-potable water supplies,
including the beneficial use of storm water and other separate waste streams. The project will also evaluate
management of potable, wastewater, and wet-weather flow to protect surface and ground waters and source waters,
while also reducing demand. This project will also evaluate the role of centralized versus decentralized treatment for
both water and wastewater as it applies to any urban area.
National Risk Management Research Laboratory
Water Supply and Water Resources Division
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This project will investigate TWM as a way to improve water resource management and reduce waste streams.
Improved management of potable water, wastewater and wet-weather flow through combined management, reuse and
recycling will protect surface and ground receiving waters and source waters, while also reducing demand.
EPA GOAL: Goal #2 - Clean & Safe Water, Objective 2.1.1- Water Safe to Drink
ORD MULTI YEAR PLAN: Water Quality (WQ), Long Term Goal - WQ-3 Source Control
RESEARCH PARTNERS: Camp Dresser & McKee, Inc. (COM)
EXPECTED OUTCOMES AND IMPACTS:
Increased awareness of the dynamic requirements for improved water quality and the growing demands for safe and
reliable reclaimed wastewater and storm water; increased acceptance of new and innovative technologies by decision
makers who adopt, regulate, and design infrastructure technologies; improved guidance to state, regional, and local
governments on water reuse technologies.
OUTPUTS:
Current and future outputs of the project will consist of a systems model, used in the analysis of the project is intended
to be released to EPA website; two conference papers; submission of a peer-reviewed journal articles; and a final
report.. The final report will provide detailed planning level costs of the various scenarios and options, including water
and wastewater utility costs, and costs of alternative non-potable systems with a comparison of costs between TWM
and conventional water and wastewater services. The volumetric analysis will determine seasonal raw water supply
requirements, wastewater volumes treated, and receiving water flows or levels under various scenarios for TWM versus
the conventional water management. The projected long-term water budget will compare whether TWM is projected to
be more capable of maintaining water supplies through an extended period of drought than conventional water
management by performing a desktop analysis of doubling the longest drought period of record for the study area
chosen. The final report will also provide a section on recommendations for municipalities and utilities.
RESOURCES:
Aging Water Infrastructure Research Program: http://www.epa.gov/awi/
Urban Watershed Management Research: http://www.epa.gov/ednnrmrl/
CONTACTS:
Thomas O'Connor, Principal Investigator - (732) 321-6723 oroconnor.thomas@epa.gov
Steven Doub, Media Relations - (513) 569-7503 ordoub.steven@epa.gov
Michelle Latham, Communications - (513) 569-7601 or latham.michelle@epa.gov
National Risk Management Research Laboratory
Water Supply and Water Resources Division
www.epa.gov/nrmrl
EPA/600/F-09/033
October 2009
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