Water recycling
Reduce potable demand, cut discharges and manage cost
Population growth, industrial expansion and more variable rainfall are increasing pressure on freshwater supplies and on the capacity of sewers and watercourses to receive wastewater. Water recycling and reuse (treating wastewater or other non-potable sources to a standard fit for a defined purpose) enables industrial and municipal users to reduce potable demand, cut discharges and manage cost.
For industrial users, reuse can lower abstraction and reduce wastewater flows to sewer or the environment
For the municipal sector, enhanced treatment of effluent can provide an alternative supply for agriculture and industry and, where appropriate, support indirect potable water recycling. WRc provides independent technical advice across the scheme life cycle, from recycling and reuse opportunity assessment and technology selection through pilot trials, water safety planning and concept design.
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The importance of recycling and reusing water
Conventional freshwater sources are under growing pressure. The National Infrastructure Commission has estimated that England needs an additional 4 billion litres per day of capacity by 2050 to maintain resilience, to be met through new supply infrastructure, leakage reduction and demand management. Under the Environment Act 2021, Defra has set a target to reduce public water supply use in England by 20% per person by 2038, with an ambition to bring household demand to 110 litres per person per day by 2050.
Water recycling and reuse addresses both supply and discharge. Treating effluent or other non-potable sources to a fit-for-purpose standard provides a locally controlled supply that reduces abstraction, while lowering the volume of wastewater returned to sewer or the environment. The regulatory position has also moved. In October 2025, the Environment Agency issued a position statement explicitly supporting water recycling as part of a diverse supply–demand portfolio in England, with indirect recycling via an environmental buffer as the route for potable reuse.
The challenge is rarely whether reuse is possible, but whether a specific scheme is safe, acceptable, permittable and economically justified. Source-water quality varies, end-use requirements differ, treatment must be matched to purpose, and public acceptability and regulatory evidence shape what can proceed. These factors apply across both industrial and municipal reuse.
We utilise bespoke technology identification
Where desktop assessment is insufficient, WRc uses its bespoke technology identification and evaluation tool and onsite bench- and pilot-scale testing facilities to verify that shortlisted solutions perform before clients commit to detailed design. Advanced treatment options are assessed on the same independent basis, including membrane-based technologies, advanced oxidation and ion exchange.
Our water recycling and re-use services
WRc reviews wastewater stream characteristics and advises on suitability for recycling and reuse. Wastewater stream mapping identifies opportunities for minimisation, reuse and alternative treatment. Sampling programmes are designed to gather representative data, followed by water quality analysis and interpretation. WRc also assesses opportunities for resource recovery and potential end users.
Recycling municipal effluent generally requires additional advanced treatment. WRc provides independent advice on options, including membrane-based technologies, advanced oxidation processes and ion exchange. Support covers feasibility and optioneering, desk-based technology identification and evaluation, design and operation of bench- and pilot-scale trials, concept-level design of a reuse treatment plant, toxicology-based risk assessment and water safety plan development.
WRc identifies potential end users close to the source, selects treatment technologies that are fit for purpose while maintaining water safety and quality, and undertakes customer and societal analysis to identify the costs, benefits and risks of individual schemes and their wider impact on customers and communities.
WRc’s technical advice is supported by a bespoke technology identification and evaluation tool; on-site bench- and pilot-scale laboratory testing; and the capacity to design technology trials and protocols that verify shortlisted solutions. Because recommendations are based on experimental evidence, clients gain the assurance needed to fund schemes through detailed design.
WRc combines consultancy with applied research, laboratory testing and technology evaluation, enabling established and emerging reuse technologies to be assessed against real treatment objectives before larger-scale commitment.
- Recycling and reuse opportunity assessment: Review of wastewater stream characteristics and suitability for recycling and reuse
- Wastewater stream mapping: Identifying minimisation, reuse and alternative treatment opportunities
- Sampling and analysis: Programme design, sampling, water quality analysis and interpretation
- Feasibility and optioneering studies: Technical and economic assessment of reuse options
- Technology identification and evaluation: Independent selection, including membrane-based technologies, advanced oxidation and ion exchange
- Bench- and pilot-scale trials: Design, construction and operation to verify performance
- Concept design: Concept-level design of recycling and reuse treatment plants
- Water safety plans and risk assessment: Water safety plan development and toxicology-based and quantitative microbial risk assessment
- End-user identification: Locating and matching suitable end users to available quality
- Customer and societal analysis: Costs, benefits, risks and wider community impacts
- Resource recovery: Assessment of recovery opportunities and potential end users
Considering water recycling or reuse within your organisation?
Whether you are assessing an industrial wastewater stream, developing a municipal reuse scheme or selecting treatment technologies, we can support from opportunity assessment through to concept design.
Speak to our water recycling specialist