DEQ on Recycling PDF Print E-mail

Here's an interesting article about DEQ's priorities... and they have a big overlap with the ACC, so I thought you would be interested.

PHOENIX — Capturing rainwater for drinking. Reusing what goes down the shower drain to water the lawn. Irrigating trees with used water from an air-conditioning system.

Recycling water in these and other ways is key to meeting Arizona's long-term water needs, the director of the state Department of Environmental Quality said last week.

"Reclaiming wastewater is absolutely the future," Benjamin Grumbles said in an interview.
 
Arizona currently recycles about 4 percent of its water. Grumbles, who served as assistant administrator for water at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, said he wants to see that figure increase significantly.

"In my view, there is no such thing as wastewater, just wasted water," he said.

Grumbles, appointed to the post earlier this year by Gov. Jan Brewer, said one of his chief goals is increasing collaboration among agencies responsible for water, energy and the environment. That commitment helped bring about a blue- ribbon panel overseen by his department, the Arizona Department of Water Resources and the Arizona Corporation Commission.