Reclaiming Water at Carolina North
by Sheila Read
If environmental engineers have their way, UNC’s planned research campus at Carolina North will serve as a model for water reuse, says environmental engineer Francis DiGiano.
A dual-use water system would separate highly treated drinking water from reclaimed wastewater that would be used in landscape irrigation, air-conditioning systems, and toilets, among other things. Using reclaimed water at Carolina North could decrease fresh-water use by up to 50 percent, DiGiano says.
The system would be the first of its kind on a college campus. The Orange Water and Sewer Authority would build a satellite wastewater-treatment plant on site.
The reclaimed water system would also be linked with a One Hydrosphere Center dedicated to research, education, and outreach on water reuse, water quality, and water management. The name One Hydrosphere refers to the fact that water goes through a continuous cycle involving both natural processes and human uses.
The One Hydrosphere Center would offer public tours of the water reclamation plant and show how reclaimed water is used throughout campus, including for landscape features such as decorative streams.
“Reclaimed wastewater is not a new idea, but it still lacks public acceptance — except in emergency situations created by droughts,” DiGiano says. But the idea is gradually catching on. A new wastewater reclamation plant in Duluth, a wealthy suburb of Atlanta, was designed with a barn motif that blends in with its surroundings. The water now irrigates golf courses and farmlands, DiGiano says, and has no odor or other obvious detriment.
Francis DiGiano is a professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences and Engineering.
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