Standards Development

Scope

Water shortages are one of the most crucial treats to sustainable development of society. Reclaimed water is considered as a safe, reliable and sustainable water source to satisfy water demands in many water-scarce areas. This International Standard is intended to standardize the benefit evaluation of reclaimed water use, guiding the progress of planning, designing, operating, management and evaluation of water reuse benefits. This International Standard is applicable to practitioners and regulatory authorities who propose to implement principles and guidelines on evaluation of reclaimed water use benefit, which aims to achieve a reasonable and comprehensive evaluation of reclaimed water use, identify the key benefits of reclaimed water use at local and regional levels, further expand water reuse market and improve water reuse efficiency.

This International Standard presents:

- Standard terms and definitions;

- Evaluation indicators of reclaimed water use benefit, including resource benefit index, environmental benefit index, social benefit index, economic benefit index, etc;

- Procedures of benefit evaluation of reclaimed water use;

- Evaluation indexes with respect to different aspects of reclaimed water use benefit. 

Purpose

The global water reuse market reached nearly $12.2 billion in 2016 and is estimated to reach $22.3 billion in 2021. Reclaimed water has been applied for multiple applications for decades in many places of the world, especially the water scarcity regions. However, there are limited regulations and guidelines regarding benefit evaluation of reclaimed water use. It is necessary to establish a systematic, scientific and holistic framework and methodology to evaluate the reclaimed water use benefits so as to further expand the water reuse market and improve water reuse efficiency.

The reclaimed water use benefits can be further evaluated in terms of resources benefit aspect, environment benefit aspect, society benefit aspect, economy benefit aspect, etc. The quantitative and/or qualitative evaluation indexes will be introduced. The procedures for conducting the benefit evaluation of reclaimed water use will also be specified.

This International Standard is applicable to authorities, stakeholders and/or practitioners who propose to implement principles and guidelines on evaluation of reclaimed water use benefit, so as to achieve a reasonable and comprehensive evaluation of reclaimed water, identify the key benefits of reclaimed water use at local and regional levels, expand the existing water reuse market and improve water reuse efficiency.