Optimal uses of advanced technologies for water and wastewater treatment in urban environments

Steadily increasing requirements for recycle and reuse of water in urban societies present global challenges to our abilities to meet ongoing needs for water suitable for human consumption. Current practices of subjecting the total water demands of urban communities to the levels of treatment required for drinking water are not sustainable indefinitely, and viable alternative strategies for ensuring adequate supplies of potable water are essential. Given the inherent advantages of flexibility and responsiveness associated with decentralization of complex functions and operations, one logical alternative might be the strategic dispersal of flexible advanced treatment and control technologies throughout urban water transport and storage networks. Integration of multiple satellite systems of this type with the critical components of existing systems and infrastructures in densely populated urban environments would facilitate optimal cost-effective applications of highly sophisticated advanced technologies. It would, moreover, do so entirely within the context of water and waste treatment and distribution/collection systems and infrastructures already in place in most densely populated urban regions. Finally, it would provide markedly enhanced "personal water" quality and significant potential for energy recovery.