History of Wastewater Infrastructure

In the early decades of the 20th century, farmers in Berlin, Paris and parts of the western U.S. began reusing wastewater effluent for agricultural purposes. San Francisco in particular began directing wastewater effluent to its less developed western section in 1919, in order to accommodate the city's water shortages. Many of the “sewage farms” had noxious odors from the organic-rich solids that bothered nearby residents near cities such as San Francisco. As a result, San Francisco was one of the cities to build an activated sludge treatment plant in 1932; that could process up to 1 million gallons each day. By using chlorine as a method of disinfection; the facility was one of a kind. The treated wastewater was directed into man made rivers and lakes, but would have to be abandoned in 1978 due to increased treatments standards (Water 4.0). Many parks began to implement this type of water infrastructure, and used the water to irrigate landscapes and parks. The concern for human health was enough to color code the recycled waste-water pipes in order to prevent disease.

Has gained greater use in the past 8 decades due to increasing economical attractiveness

The reuse of wastewater has gained greater use in the past 8 decades mainly due to the attractive economical cost compared to alternative intensive investment projects that attempt to deliver the same resource. Also, the broad applications of potable and nonpotable water increased investments; particularly in industrial sections including Refineries and Power Utilities/Data Processing Plants. The limited use of recycled wastewater in urban cities is due the fear of potential health impacts and associated costs; therefore it is mainly limited to areas of limited or reduced public contact such as highway medians golf courses, and large scale urban shrub irrigation. The use of recycled wastewater to irrigate golf courses has become a dominant source of many water reuse project permits. Another major user of non-potable recycled wastewater is UC Berkeley in its many newly constructed LEED certified buildings; as well as many other projects mainly in California, but also nationwide. Although the practise of recycled wastewater has gained greater use, its only accounts for a small percentage of total water use. This is due to the initial economic challenges faced when the dual distribution system was to be incorporated into sprawling western and southern cities of the United States during the second half of the twentieth century.