In 2008, MassDEP proposed a new set of regulations governing the permitting and operation of reclaimed water in Massachusetts, 314 CMR 20.00, entitled “Reclaimed Water Permit Program and Standards Regulations.”  These regulations reflect national experience in reclaimed water, MassDEP’s experience since the implementation of its Interim Guidelines on Reclaimed Water in 2000, as well as research and input from a MassDEP’s Water Reuse Task Force.  

The draft regulations establish a system of classifications and standards specific to the proposed use.  The highest standards apply to those proposed uses with greatest potential for exposure to the public.  These regulations expand the allowable uses in Massachusetts and include:  

• Landscape irrigation for golf courses, parks, playgrounds, athletic fields, and nurseries
• Toilet flushing
• Cooling water and industrial process water
• Agricultural use such as pasture land irrigation, silviculture irrigation, and food crop irrigation (where there is no contact with the edible portion of the crop and reclaimed water use)
• Recharging of  aquifers in basins, sub-basins and watersheds acknowledged to be stressed water resource areas, where it is necessary to replenish streamflow, enhance the productivity capacity of an aquifer , and/or improve or mitigate water quality problems (proposed under revisions to 314 CMR 5.00, Groundwater Discharge Permitting Program Regulations)

Under the current policy, water reuse options can be seen as a constraint by limiting uses to only four practices:  irrigation of golf courses, irrigation of landscaping at nurseries, toilet flushing for commercial uses, and recharging of aquifers.  The proposed regulations encourage water reuse in Massachusetts by expanding the set of permissible uses, while continuing to protect public health. 

25.a    MA DEP should adopt the proposed Reclaimed Water Regulations and the proposed revisions to the Groundwater Discharge Regulations 

25.b    Municipalities and water suppliers should require new golf courses to use treated wastewater for irrigation wherever possible

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