Water reuse projects - technical and economic sustainability

Similarly to most of Mediterranean EU member states, Portugal regularly experience severe water supply and demand imbalances, particularly in the summer months. Tourism is a very important economic activity in Portugal and is pushing water demand particularly in regions suffering occasional water deficit, like the southern half part of Portugal mainland. Golf courses are an important tourist factor contributing to water demand rising. A number of golf courses are installed in tourist areas and need high amount of water for irrigation. Water reuse is a very important management strategy in situations of water scarcity. Portugal badly needs to include treated wastewater as a dependable resource in the nation water resources management. Sustainable water reuse requires technical guidelines to ensure the public health and environmental protection but the economic sustainability is crucial for the success of water reuse projects as a strategy of water conservation. This paper briefly presents Portuguese guidelines on water reuse focusing mainly on the aspects to be taken into account in the assessment of the economic viability of water reuse projects, such as the model of tariff structure, the costs to internalise, share of costs among users and recovery of investment costs.