WATER REUSE UPDATE IN
Las Vegas, Nevada
By Ricardo Perez, P.E.
WATER REUSE HAS A LONG HISTORY, AND IT HAS CONTINUED to increase in use throughout
the United States since the early 2000s with many water and wastewater utilities in growing areas
adopting both Direct Potable Reuse (DPR) and Indirect Potable Reuse (IPR) concepts. In 2014, a
report by the U.S. Government Accountability Office stated that 36 states were using reclaimed
water, as compared to only 23 states in 2003. In 2019, Bluefield Research projected that current
reuse capacity of reclaimed water flows in the United States is expected to increase 37% by the year 2027. While we
are dealing with the ongoing challenges of a global pandemic, we are also facing increasing freshwater demand
as the population continues to grow. Therefore, it is not surprising that many states have continued to invest in
reclaimed water projects as a part of their overall water strategy.
14 SOURCE spring 2021
WATER REUSE
The treatment of wastewater to
a sufficient treatment level within
required quality standards provides
many options for reuse in the following
seven basic categories: agricultural
irrigation, landscape irrigation, industrial,
non-potable urban, recreational/
environmental, IPR and DPR, with
multiple uses within each category.
Often, reused water can go back
directly to the treatment facility it came
from and becomes a part of the treatment
process. For example in Las Vegas, the
Clark County Water Reclamation District
(CCWRD) has been using reclaimed water
in a variety of reuse applications. The
CCWRD treats approximately 100 million
gallons of raw sewage a day to meet
stringent water standards. An estimated
90 million gallons of treated wastewater
is released into the Las Vegas Wash and
flows back to its source, Lake Mead. The
remaining 10 million gallons is used in
various wastewater treatment processes
and other reuse applications, including
irrigation of parks and golf courses.
Water and wastewater agencies in the
Southern Nevada region have invested
in infrastructure to continue increasing
the use of reclaimed water. CCWRD
recently invested in upgrading its existing
reclaimed water system by building a new
Reclaimed Water Pump Station (RWPS)
at its Flamingo Water Resource Center
(FWRC), its largest treatment facility. The
new pump station, designed by Greeley
and Hansen, has the capacity to provide
Figure 2: Sodium Hypochlorite storage tanks and
secondary containment. July, 2020.
Figure 1: Sodium hypochlorite storage tanks and
building under construction. July, 2020.
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