—————    WATER RECYCLING
NO MORE
SINGLE USE
WATER
Our current system relates to water in single-use terms, meaning that we only use it once. Such ways of relating to water are flawed because all the water that moves through the earth already exists.
THEÂ FACTS
Water
Supply
Not only do we have all the water that we are ever going to receive, but it is also disappearing due to the warming of the planet.
Water
Use
Multi-use water involves cycling water through our world in ways that emulate nature. It can help to sustain people, businesses, and ecosystems.
Water
Recycling
Water recycling offers a viable solution to contemporary water crises.
Water Supply
Not only do we have all the water that we are ever going to receive, but it is also disappearing due to the warming of the planet.
Water Use
Multi-use water involves cycling water through our world in ways that emulate nature. It can help to sustain people, businesses, and ecosystems.
Water Recycling
Water recycling offers a viable solution to contemporary water crises.
A VISION
Water recycling in Illinois
The Freshwater Lab’s vision is for the Illinois coastline to produce the world’s best water for multiple uses. Reliable, safe supplies of water for both industrial and domestic uses will attract new enterprises and people to the region as a whole.
Why Illinois?
Canal
Illinois is unique among Great Lake states because it doesn’t practice the return use of water. Return use means that wastewater and stormwater are treated to regulated levels and then restored to lakes or rivers. Illinois, however, sends its treated wastewater and stormwater down a canal that connects to the Mississippi River basin and ultimately empties into the Gulf. This unusual scenario dates back to Chicago’s early industrialization. You can read all about it on The Freshwater Lab’s The Backward River digital storytelling site.
Sources
This diversion comes with a set limit of 2.1 billion gallons a day from Lake Michigan. Northeastern Illinois depends on this diversion to supply Lake Michigan water to suburbs across the Chicago Metropolitan region.
An increasing number of suburbs and even inland cities find themselves above a tapped aquifer and must find a new source of water supply. Most plan to turn to Lake Michigan. However, not all of these communities can be accommodated along with new allocations to industry and Illinois’ diversion limit. In order to stay within the limit and meet the needs of increasing water users, water recycling for industry must be implemented.
Expansion
Inland areas of Illinois are experiencing water stress. The state has the largest diversion of freshwater on earth. By reusing water for industry, a balance can be achieved. Recycling water is a practical, reliable way to expand the overall water supply.
OUR IMPACT
The Freshwater Lab formed in order to adapt global advances in water technology and governance to the Great Lakes watershed and to broadcast Great Lakes successes nationally and internationally. Water reuse stands among the beneficial technologies widely applied in other parts of the world that could have transformative effects around the Great Lakes.Â
To advance water reuse, we are proud of our milestones to date:
Team
Convened the UIC Water Recycling Team to bring accomplished researchers in sustainable engineering, urban planning, environmental economics, workforce development and water policy together.
Report
Action Plan
Created the first action plan in the Great Lakes region for advancing water reuse policy. Our work constitutes action 7.11 of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Water Reuse Action Plan (WRAP).
Legislation
We contributed to Illinois House Bill 3046 that approved revisions to any rules necessary to facilitate water reuse in the state and the Metropolitan Water Reclamation District’s Water Reuse Resolution.
Projects
Conceptualizing the technology, financing, and policy to anchor industrial water reuse across the Great Lakes region.
LEARN MORE ABOUT WATER RECYCLING
REPORTSÂ &Â RESOURCES
“From Waste to Water” is a collaboration between members of The Freshwater Lab, The Great Cities Institute, and Sustainable Engineering Research Laboratory at UIC.
