ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the different options for water recycling in cities. It presents the different forms of potable and non-potable reuse and implications for energy consumption, social acceptability and technology choice. The chapter reviews the environmental impacts of different forms of reuse. It analyzes the reuse using the five frameworks of sustainability. The frameworks are sustainable development, ecological modernisation, socio-technical systems, political ecology and radical ecology. Potable reuse is constructed as a modern form of water supply, and public concerns are barriers to progress that need to be overcome in order to deliver sustainable water systems. Socio-technical analysis of non-potable reuse emphasises the need for clear regulation, user engagement and business models to support the dissemination and maintenance of technology. Radical ecologists would therefore promote low-energy, small-scale water reuse technologies, particularly systems that help users to a better understanding of water as part of nature as well as a human right and resource.
