ORIGINAL RESEARCH
Study on Recycling Urban Wastewater
for Non-Potable Uses for
Water Conservation
Muthukrishna Vellaisamy Kumarasamy, Victor N Dube
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Civil Engineering Programme, School of Engineering, University of KwaZulu-Natal,
Durban, South Africa
Submission date: 2015-06-28
Final revision date: 2015-08-31
Acceptance date: 2015-08-31
Publication date: 2016-01-25
Pol. J. Environ. Stud. 2016;25(1):167-171
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ABSTRACT
This study aims to investigate the feasibility of recycling urban wastewater for non-potable purposes and
to reduce potable water usage in the eThekwini Municipal region in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Three
different potential users of recycled water were investigated, including residential households, industrial users,
and irrigation schemes. For residential users, the water uses for low- and high-income households were
investigated. For industrial use, one particular industry was investigated, and for irrigation schemes, three
golf courses were investigated. Some of the factors were expected to affect feasibility, such as economic,
social, and environmental issues. In this study economic and environmental feasibility were not considered
as we were investigating water conservation. The study showed that industrial and irrigation uses are more
feasible options for recycled water reuse as compared to residential use due to the low social acceptance of
the project.