Smart Water Magazine’s June 2025 edition, Reuse is the Future, highlighted global leaders and EU advances in water resilience and circular economy. The growing call for sustainable water use urges us to take tangible action.
As potable water reuse gains more momentum worldwide, investing in pilot facilities becomes a valuable early step in evaluating treatment options. Potable reuse, the advanced treatment of effluent from a water reclamation facility to produce highly purified drinking water, accelerates what nature has done for millennia. In the United States (U.S.), regulations do not always require pilot operations before full-scale facilities are permitted. While pilots can increase implementation schedules, the decision to take this path is best faced before a crisis occurs and dire straits kick in – and quite possibly before everyone is on board with the idea of wastewater’s transformation into purified drinking water.
Early engagement with regulators through a pilot facility fosters long-term collaboration and success. Participation by an independent technical advisory panel helps build regulatory confidence. Pilot data demonstrate compliance with health and environmental standards and streamline full-scale permitting.
By optimising design and performance at pilot scale, projects move forward with greater confidence, lower risk, and potential savings
Not all wastewater is the same. Local sewage sources and regional conditions create unique characteristics that influence advanced water treatment design and operation. Pilot facilities bridge the gap between theory and practice, allowing technical teams to validate and refine under site-specific conditions. Insights at this stage reduce the risk of unforeseen operational challenges.
Pilot data also help identify the optimal treatment train while empirically confirming contaminant removal, energy use, and system resilience. By optimising design and performance at pilot scale, projects move forward with greater confidence, lower risk, and potential savings in capital and operating costs.
Physical pilot facilities offer invaluable opportunities for public engagement by turning abstract concepts into tangible experiences. They provide a hands-on platform to demonstrate the safety and reliability of potable reuse, fostering public and political acceptance. Through transparent, site-specific outreach, pilot facilities help address community concerns and build lasting trust.
Talent shortages in the water industry can be tackled through pilot projects that train operators on advanced technologies. Success depends on multidisciplinary teams collecting reliable data and long-term studies that capture seasonal shifts and stress testing. Partnerships with colleges and communities support certification and workforce development. Collaboration with researchers blends theory and practice. As one colleague put it, pilots let us “turn knobs and push the envelope” to explore more efficient, cost-effective solutions and drive innovation.
In a recent water reuse pilot, CDM Smith tested carbon-based and reverse osmosis process trains side-by-side to evaluate treatment effectiveness. Two leading purification technologies were assessed: (1) Ultrafiltration, Reverse Osmosis, and Advanced Oxidation Process (UF-RO-AOP), and (2) flocculation/sedimentation, ozone, Biologically Active Filtration (BAF), and AOP (ozone-BAF-AOP). CDM Smith supported field ops and bench-scale testing to optimise performance. Based on the results, the client selected UF-RO-AOP for full-scale implementation.
Potable reuse pilots offer far-reaching benefits: technical validation, regulatory confidence, stakeholder trust and confidence, workforce development, and innovation — all key drivers for success. By investing in pilots, utilities can build resilient, efficient, and sustainable reuse systems that support community needs and a circular water economy.