Melbourne's Reclaimed Water
Reclaimed water is highly treated wastewater effluent that has been treated, filtered, and disinfected.  Reclaimed water is ideal for many non-drinking water applications such as landscape and agricultural irrigation, dust control, industrial cooling, and groundwater recharge. 

Reclaimed water is beneficial in several ways.  It provides an environmentally-sound means of effluent disposal and its application can take the place of non-essential uses of drinking water.  More than 50% of our overall water use is for non-drinking purposes.  The use of reclaimed water can help conserve our valuable drinking water supplies. 

Melbourne has committed to the conservation and preservation of our water resources by investing in the construction and expansion of the reclaimed water system utility.  Melbourne has been operating its reclaimed water system for more than 23 years and currently distributes 33 percent of its total daily wastewater treatment plant flow to its reclaimed water customers.  The City has tentative plans to distribute 50 percent by 2019.

The D.B. Lee Water Reclamation Facility, which is located off Sarno Road, has a reclaimed water production capacity of 4.0 million gallons per day. The Grant Street Water Reclamation Facility, located in the southern portion of the city, has 2.0 million gallons per day of reuse production capacity. 

The reuse distribution system serves a variety of municipal, residential, and commercial customers throughout Melbourne.  Approximately 25 miles of reuse mains distribute reuse to City parks, roadway medians, the operational areas of the Melbourne International Airport, the Mallard’s Landing Golf Course, and the Crane Creek Reserve Golf Course.  In addition, more than 800 commercial and residential customers are served by the reclaimed water system. 

Over the past decade the City has invested approximately $8 million in production capacities at the two water reclamation facilities, as well as approximately $3 million in distribution system improvements.  The City will continue to work to improve both production and distribution facilities over the next 10 years with tentative plans to expand the distribution network to the following areas: Lipscomb Park, Southwest Regional Park, Florida Institute of Technology, and the Melbourne Square Mall.

Like drinking water, reclaimed water also must undergo extensive testing by laboratory technicians to ensure the quality of this recycled product.  The comparison table below shows how the reclaimed water produced at both City plants compares to maximum-allowed contamination levels set by the federal Environmental Protection Agency.  All values are given in milligram per liter (mg/l).

Sources for additional information on reclaimed water include: 
www.athirstyplanet.com
www.protectingourwater.org/florida_water_story/channel/
www.dep.state.fl.us/water/reuse/index.htm