Innovation

Science and Engineering Innovation in Water Reuse

The Water Consortium is dedicated to advancing water treatment, purification, and reuse technologies. By combining expertise from leading research institutions and government agencies, we develop cutting-edge solutions that address water scarcity, contamination, and sustainability challenges

Through collaboration with the University of Southern California (USC), the University of Arizona (UA), the University of Nevada, Reno (UNR), and the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC), we are pioneering next-generation water solutions.

Objectives

Provide national leadership on implementing potable water reuse to improve water resiliency and security.

Develop advanced technologies for water treatment, contaminant and pathogen detection and removal, and energy reduction.

Leverage existing partnerships and form new ones between industry and municipalities to develop and demonstrate innovative technologies and systems for water reuse and resource recovery.

Collaborate with municipalities and federal agencies (DoD, EPA, DOE, USBR, and others) to facilitate technical and regulatory communication amongst all potable water reuse stakeholders.

Develop curriculum that can also be adapted for military personnel.

Advance a national water reuse agenda with critical impact for military agencies that have installations across all 50 states.

Our Focus Areas

System Development

High Recovery Membrane Processes (USC)

Pretreament with on-site chemical generation from RO brine (UA)

Regional supply chain network model (UNR)

Tech Transfer

Potable Water Reuse Report (USC)

Workforce development training courses (UA)

Reuse primer for military users (ERDC)

Chemical Contaminants

Detecting and Destroying PFAS (UNR)

Disinfection byproduct control (USC)

Natural attenuation fo emerging contaminants (UA)

Biological Contaminants

Increased sensitivity of virus detection (UA)

Benchmarking pathogen reduction (UNR)

Antibiotic resistance in wastewater (USC)

Alternative Water Sources and Resource Recovery

Stormwater Collection and treatment (UNR)

Reuse of increasing salinity streams (USC)

Resource recovery from brines (UA, UNR & ERDC)

Implementation Studies

Public Perception surveys (UA)

TEAs and LCAs of reuse systems (UA)

Army baseline water reuse study (ERDC)

Technologies Developed by Partner Institutions

University of Southern California (USC) – ReWater Center

The USC ReWater Center specializes in the development of innovative water purification and reuse systems to enhance urban and industrial water security.

Electrochemical Membrane Reactors (EEMR) – A novel approach to remove organic contaminants and pathogens while reducing energy costs.

Next-Generation Reverse Osmosis (RO) Systems – Optimized for decentralized water treatment and high-recovery operations.

Real-Time Water Quality Sensing – Smart monitoring technologies for early detection of contaminants in potable reuse applications.

Potable Reuse Toxicological Assessments – Evaluating the safety and long-term impacts of direct potable reuse (DPR) compared to conventional water treatment.

🔗 Learn more: USC ReWater Center

University of Arizona (UA) – WEST Center

WEST Center at the University of Arizona focuses on energy-efficient water reuse, microbial safety, and decentralized treatment solutions.

Autonomous and self-correcting treatment systems – Leveraging data analysis and machine learning to enhance treatment performance and resilience.

Innovative brine treatment technologies – Enabling high recovery water reuse with reduced waste and improved sustainability.

Improved virus detection methods – Advancing our understanding of pathogen attenuation throughout treatment processes.

Workforce development and public engagement – Creating training programs and assessing public perception to support broader reuse adoption.

🔗 Learn more: WEST Center – University of Arizona

University of Nevada, Reno (UNR) – Nevada Water Innovation Institute (NWII)

The Nevada Water Innovation Institute (NWII) at UNR is leading efforts in resource recovery, decentralized treatment, and alternative water sourcing.

PFAS sensing, detection, and destruction – Developing methods to identify and eliminate PFAS in treated water and wastewater biosolids.

Benchmarking pathogen reduction – Validating performance of full-scale water reclamation facilities for microbial safety.

Drinking water supply chain modeling – Creating tools for regional planning, resilience, and risk analysis of water supply systems.

Resource recovery and alternative sourcing – Techniques to extract valuable minerals and enable sustainable nontraditional water supplies.

🔗 Learn more: Nevada Water Innovation Institute

U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center (ERDC)

ERDC specializes in developing advanced water resilience technologies for military and municipal applications, ensuring secure and sustainable water resources.

Decentralized and mobile treatment units – Compact systems for on-site water and wastewater treatment in remote and tactical environments.

Brine valorization and waste-to-energy – Methods to convert reverse osmosis concentrate into usable energy or recoverable resources.

Reuse adoption planning tools – Frameworks to support the implementation of water reuse strategies at military installations.

Training and communication programs – Tailored materials and methods to educate military users on reuse technologies and operations.

🔗 Learn more: ERDC – U.S. Army Corps of Engineers