Chapter 3 Decision Support Model (IUWS-DSM) - Tubdok

Chapter 2 · New Conception 15
Australia 1 , Canada 2 , China 3 and USA 4 , have established such water quality guidelines/standards,
which are especially for utilising the reclaimed water.
According to the focus of this research, the desired water quality standards are categorised
in three classes according to the end uses (Table 2). The first class represents the
highest one, i.e. drinking water quality. The second class represents the water that is not
potable but can be freely contacted by human beings. The third class indicates the water that
is restricted to be contacted by human beings’ body, which are mainly used for the
environmental and irrigation purposes.
Moreover, as there are still big obstacles from the social, religious and psychological
aspects for directly drinking or using the reclaimed water, the subscripts are used to
distinguish the source water between raw water and used water (Table 2). In the following
context, symbol A, B and C are used to represent the general situation that is not sensitive to
the types of source water.
Table 2: Categorisation of desired water quality
source
water
RAW
water
USED
water
Class 1: Quality A Class 2: Quality B Class 3: Quality C
A(1):
potable water
e.g.:
cooking, drinking,
bathing
A(2):
non-direct potable
e.g.:
groundwater recharge
B(1):
non-potable, can be
contacted by human
e.g.:
toilet flush, car wash,
unrestricted area irrigation
B(2):
the same as above
C(1):
restricted to be
contacted by human
e.g.:
restricted area irrigation,
golf course irrigation
C(2):
the same as above
No certain parameters with limiting values are given in this work as it needs to be done
on the national or regional base. Chugg (2007) and Feng et al. (2008) reviewed the water
reuse standards and guidelines worldwide and suggested the parameters with values for
different water reuse purposes, which can be refered to.
Used water quality. Several types of used water are identified, i.e. urban sewage,
domestic sewage and industrial wastewater, which are discussed respectively as follows.
1 Guidelines for Environmental Management – Use of Reclaimed Water (accessed 08.2008)
http://epanote2.epa.vic.gov.au/EPA/Publications.NSF/PubDocsLU/464.2?OpenDocument
2 Water Reuse Standards and Verification Protocol (accessed 08.2008)
http://www.cmhc-schl.gc.ca/odpub/pdf/64802.pdf
3
The Reuse of Urban Recycling Water – Water Quality Standards (National Standard, in Chinese)
including six series for different kinds of water uses
4 Guidelines for Water Reuse, USEPA (accessed 08.2008)
http://www.epa.gov/nrmrl/pubs/625r04108/625r04108.pdf