Impact of blending reuse and lake water on treated water quality

The impact of supplementing a raw drinking water source with reuse water was examined. Reuse water produced from municipal wastewater by a membrane bioreactor and reverse osmosis (MBR-RO) system was blended with untreated Lake Ontario water, then subjected to conventional water treatment processes, and evaluated in terms of disinfection by-products (DBPs), nitrate, and coliforms. The addition of reuse water to the lake water improved water quality in terms of total organic carbon (TOC) and bromide, which resulted in reduced trihalomethane (THM) formation. This appeared to be entirely due to dilution with no specific impact from the conventional treatment process. Nitrate levels in the reuse water (1.4 mg/L) were higher than the lake water (0.4 mg/L) and, therefore, an increase in the reuse water : lake water blend ratio resulted in a linear increase in nitrate levels. The conventionally treated blend water was shown to meet typical drinking water regulations for THMs, haloacetic acids (HAAs), total coliform, and nitrate. Key words: water reuse, drinking water supplement, reverse osmosis, membrane bioreactor, conventional water treatment, disinfection by-products, nitrate.