Our Municipal Water Reuse Forum brought together engineers, municipal leaders, legal experts, and development professionals to explore
how water reuse is evolving from an optional sustainability feature into a core component of long-term water supply planning. Opening the session, Alan Steinberg reminded attendees that communities often take water for granted. “We don’t often think about how precious this water is,” he said, emphasizing that resilience in infrastructure and communities requires intentional planning. He stressed that reuse discussions must reach decision makers, municipal utility district boards, and special districts, since many projects require public private partnerships to become reality.
Moderated by Melinda Salazar, Chair of the West Houston Association Water Resources Committee and Director for Land Development at BGE, Inc, the panel featured David Kasper of ARKK Engineers, Howard Christian of the City of Richmond, and Howard Cohen of Schwartz, Page and Harding. Their conversation highlighted real world projects in Katy and Richmond, and examined the financial, technical, regulatory, and public communication considerations involved in making reuse work.
From Sustainability Concept to Water Supply Strategy
A key theme of the forum was the shift in mindset around reuse. What was once considered an environmental add-on is increasingly central to meeting long-term demand.
Speaking about the City of Katy, David Kasper explained that the city remains on one hundred percent groundwater until 2030. Rapid growth has required drilling additional wells, each costing approximately three and a half million dollars. “There’s so many straws in the aquifer,” he noted. Reuse helps remove one of those straws. By producing roughly one million gallons per day through its reuse system, Katy can reduce pressure on groundwater supplies and address subsidence concerns in areas such as the Katy Mills corridor.
In Richmond, Howard Christian described a similar trajectory. The city began producing surface water in 2017 through Brazos River water rights, but those rights are finite. “There’s only X amount of acre feet available currently,” he explained. Reuse provides flexibility during peak summer irrigation months and helps stretch existing supplies.
In both cities, reuse is no longer about optics. It is about long term supply security, groundwater reduction requirements, and resilience planning.
Engineering and Regulatory Considerations
Technically, reuse systems require careful planning. In Katy’s case, physical constraints created design challenges. The reuse facility is bordered by a wastewater plant expansion on one side and a floodway on the other. The result is a compact system that resembles an industrial facility more than a traditional municipal installation.
Storage was repeatedly emphasized as a critical component. Irrigation demand typically peaks at night, while wastewater treatment plant flows decrease during those same hours. Without adequate storage and buffering, a system may not be able to meet irrigation needs when they are highest. Panelists cautioned communities not to oversell capacity and to fully understand nighttime flow limitations before committing to supply levels.
From a regulatory standpoint, reuse permitting was described as relatively streamlined compared to traditional discharge permitting. However, supply contracts and legal arrangements can be complex. Howard Cohen emphasized that reuse often requires creativity, coordination across jurisdictions, and carefully structured agreements between cities, districts, developers, and other users.
Financial Realities and Return on Investment
The financial discussion was candid and practical. While environmental benefits are real, reuse must work economically.
Katy’s project includes approximately $2,500,000 in treatment equipment and roughly $1,500,000 in pipeline infrastructure. The projected break-even period is about 12-13 years. Richmond structured its relationship with Johnson’s Veranda development through a take or pay contract, which provided revenue certainty and helped justify upfront capital investment. Christian noted that from the city’s perspective, the return period was under ten years. 
Cost savings for communities can be significant. Potable water costs approximately $5 per thousand gallons, while re-use water costs closer to $1 per thousand gallons. In Veranda, the reuse system saves residents between $250,000 – $300,000 annually compared to potable water rates. That savings allows communities to maintain green space and amenities without placing additional financial burden on homeowners.
However, Christian cautioned that cities must also evaluate revenue impacts. Shifting customers from potable to reuse reduces water sales revenue. “Part of your financial analysis needs to be the revenue loss from the city’s perspective,” he said. While not overwhelming, it is a factor that must be considered in planning models.
Cohen added that developers must be able to program reuse costs into reimbursement and bond structures. “I don’t think many people are going to buy a home because it has a water reuse system,” he remarked. Like tires on a car, reuse has strong utility value, but it is not typically a marketing driver. For projects to proceed, the economics must align.
Drought Resilience and Peak Demand Reduction
Recent droughts reinforced the operational benefits of reuse. During severe droughts in 2022 and 2023, Katy implemented water restrictions for the first time. Landscaping and public spaces suffered. One major goal of Katy’s reuse project is to protect high profile corridors and green areas during future drought events.
Christian explained that reuse “blunts the peak.” Richmond’s peak day usage may reach six million gallons per day. Diverting even one million gallons of irrigation demand reduces strain on treatment equipment and delays costly expansions. Infrastructure sizing is based on peak demand, so lowering that peak has direct capital planning implications.
Cohen pointed out that drought contingency plans often begin with irrigation restrictions. “There’s nothing that will upset a community more than to cut back on the water in your lawns and landscaping,” he said. Reuse provides a way to preserve community aesthetics during drought without drawing down potable supplies.
Regional Partnerships and Creativity
Water systems do not stop at city limits. Reuse opportunities often cross jurisdictional boundaries and require coordinated action.
Cohen described reuse as a concept that is easy to understand but challenging to implement. There is a point source, a treatment process, storage needs, and an end user. The question is how to connect them and who pays for the infrastructure between them.
The New Territory example illustrated the complexity. During annexation discussions with the City of Sugar Land, effluent rights were preserved and transferred to a levee district for irrigation of ball fields. The arrangement required legislative action and years of planning but ultimately saved the community substantial money once annexed into city potable water rates.
Panelists agreed that new developments are easier environments for reuse because infrastructure can be installed at the outset. Retrofitting existing communities is more difficult, but not impossible with the right partners and creative structures.
Public Communication and Trust
Public perception remains a key factor. Installing reuse infrastructure in new communities generally generates little resistance. Introducing reuse into established neighborhoods can prompt concerns about safety and cross connections.
Kasper acknowledged that if reuse water is extended into individual yards, communication efforts will need to intensify. Cross connection prevention is critical. Cohen was direct. “You cannot over communicate once you’re going to convert an existing community.” Residents must understand that reclaimed water used for irrigation is safe and properly regulated.
Education, public meetings, and transparency are essential components of successful implementation.
Policy Incentives and the Road Ahead
The panel discussed whether current policies adequately incentivize reuse. Christian suggested increasing groundwater reduction credits to encourage smaller entities to pursue projects. Grant funding targeted specifically toward reuse infrastructure could also accelerate adoption.
Kasper proposed allowing developers who install robust reuse systems to reduce their required well capacity commitments. Such incentives could shift economic calculations in favor of reuse.
Cohen offered a broader observation. Regulatory momentum often follows crisis. Historically, the Houston region has had abundant groundwater. As costs rise and reduction requirements tighten, particularly in Fort Bend County approaching sixty-percent groundwater reduction mandates, reuse will become increasingly attractive.
Looking five to ten years ahead, panelists expect reuse to expand significantly. Developers are already installing purple pipe systems in new communities in anticipation of future supply deployment. Industrial reuse also represents a major frontier. Large volumes of water are used in energy production and reinjected as wastewater. Technological advances may make treatment and reuse more economically feasible in the coming decade.
Conclusion
Our Municipal Water Reuse Forum underscored that reuse is no longer peripheral. It is becoming a central tool in meeting groundwater reduction requirements, managing peak demand, enhancing drought resilience, and supporting long term regional water plans.
While economics and policy incentives will ultimately drive broader adoption, projects in Katy, Richmond, and elsewhere in Fort Bend County demonstrate that reuse can be technically feasible and financially sound. As growth continues and water rights remain finite, communities will increasingly need to show that they are using every available resource wisely.
As Christian noted, in the years ahead, residents will want to know that their communities are “doing everything they can with the resource that’s available to them.” Water reuse is quickly becoming one of the clearest ways to answer that question.