The Water Environment Federation (WEF; Alexandria, Virginia), U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), National Municipal Stormwater Alliance (NMSA; Alexandria, Virginia), and other partners have been working to identify and dismantle barriers hampering stormwater capture and use (SCU) adoption. The team has released a new report, titled Pure Potential: The Case for Stormwater Capture and Use, which aims to establish a “unified community of practice” around SCU similar to other alternative water sources like desalination and wastewater reclamation, authors write.

“Ensuring global water security demands that we do more to take advantage of stormwater as a vital resource instead of regarding it as a nuisance to manage,” said Claudio Ternieden, WEF Senior Director of Government Affairs, who helped coordinate the report. “As many communities across the U.S. are already demonstrating, thoughtfully planned stormwater capture and use programs have the potential to augment drinking water, mitigate flooding, and enhance environmental equity. Pure Potential proposes a framework to help guide regulators, academics, and stormwater professionals as they work to maximize these benefits.”

The report, which synthesizes conclusions from a series of meetings in 2021 that included EPA, WEF, NMSA, the WateReuse Association (Alexandria, Virginia), and the Re-Inventing the Nation’s Urban Water Infrastructure (ReNUWIt) research consortium, outlines six key focus areas to spur SCU adoption:

• enhance SCU coordination and leadership;
• build trust and understanding through partnerships;
• clarify regulations, policy, and guidance;
• expand funding mechanisms;
• advance science and treatment standards; and
• accelerate the use of new technologies and SCU strategies.

Read more and download the full report here.