Summary of Florida's Water Reuse Guideline or Regulation for Centralized Non-potable Reuse

This page is part of the EPA’s REUSExplorer tool, which summarizes the different state level regulations or guidelines for water reuse for a variety of sources and end-uses.
The source water for this summary is Treated Municipal Wastewater.

• Technical basis
• Applications of centralized non-potable reuse approved for use in Florida
• Water reuse category/type
• Additional context and definitions
• Centralized non-potable reuse specifications (table)
• Upcoming regulations
• References
• Disclaimer

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This page is a summary of the state’s water reuse law or policy and is provided for informational purposes only. Please always refer to the state for the most accurate and updated information. 

In Florida, centralized non-potable reuse centralized non-potable reuse The use of recycled water for centralized non-potable reuse where the water does not derive from the same site where it is to be reused. Can include, but is not limited to, toilet flushing, dust control, soil compaction, fire protection, commercial laundries, vehicle washing, street cleaning, snowmaking, and other similar uses. Excludes on-site non-potable water reuse and the use of recycled water for agriculture or landscaping. applications include dust control, road cleaning, commercial laundries, sewer flushing, ice for ice rinks and wastewater treatment plant uses (including washing down, toilet flushing and fire protection). The source of water (treated municipal wastewater) treated municipal wastewater Treated wastewater effluent discharged from a centralized wastewater treatment plant of any size. Other terms referring to this source of water include domestic wastewater, treated wastewater effluent, reclaimed water, and treated sewage. is specified by the state as domestic wastewater. The write-up uses state terms when discussing sources or uses of water that may differ from the Regulations and End-Use Specifications Explorer's (REUSExplorer's) terms.

Technical basis

Florida approves the use of reclaimed water for centralized non-potable reuse applications including dust control on construction sites, cleaning roads, sidewalks and outdoor work areas, wastewater treatment plant use, commercial laundries, vehicle washing, flushing sewers and water lines, mixing concrete and ice production (Fla. Admin. Code r. 62-610). All applicable provisions of the Clean Water Act (CWA) (33 U.S.C. §§ 1251 et seq.), including its implementing regulations, must be met in addition to any state water quality standards. All application systems must receive secondary treatment with disinfection (Fla. Admin. Code r. 62-600.440). Disinfection type (“basic” or “high-level”) and performance standards (i.e., microbial specifications) vary for each approved centralized non-potable reuse application. Treatment requirements and performance standards are applied for the removal of microbial contaminants, chemicals and other relevant indicators are summarized in the table. The technical basis for developing the specifications and/or removals of microbial contaminants, chemicals and other relevant indicators is not explicitly specified.

Applications of centralized non-potable reuse approved for use in Florida

Fla. Admin. Code r. 62-610 defines the following approved centralized non-potable reuse applications:

• Dust control on construction sites (Secondary treatment and high-level disinfection)
• Cleaning roads, sidewalks and outdoor work areas (Secondary treatment and high-level disinfection)
• Commercial laundries (Secondary treatment and high-level disinfection)
• Vehicle washing (Secondary treatment and high-level disinfection)
• Flushing sanitary sewers and reclaimed water lines (Secondary treatment and high-level disinfection)
• Mixing concrete (Secondary treatment and high-level disinfection)
• Ice for ice rinks (Secondary treatment and high-level disinfection)
• Wastewater treatment plant use: irrigation process, wash down, other purposes, toilet flushing, fire protection (Secondary treatment and basic disinfection or Secondary treatment and high-level disinfection)

Water reuse category/type

Treatment facilities providing “high-level disinfection” must meet the following criteria using either membrane filtration or equivalent MPN methods (Fla. Admin. Code r. 62-600.440):

• Over a 30-day period (monthly), 75% of the fecal coliform values shall be below the detection limits.
• Single sample maximum of 25 fecal coliform values/100 mL of reclaimed water or effluent sample.
• Single sample maximum of 5 mg/L of total suspended solids at a point before application of the disinfectant.
• When chlorine is used for disinfection, a total chlorine residual of ≥ 1.0 mg/L shall be maintained at all times. The minimum acceptable contact time is 15 minutes at the peak hourly flow. Rapid and uniform mixing are required. At new or expanded treatment facilities, the contact time at peak hourly flow should be ≥25 minutes if ≤1,000 fecal coliform values/100 mL are present in samples, ≥40 minutes if 1,000–10,000 fecal coliform values/100 mL are present in samples and ≥120 minutes if ≥10,000 fecal coliform values/100 mL are present in samples.

Additional context and definitions

Reclaimed water, upon flowing out of the once-through, non-contact, cooling system, that is returned to the domestic wastewater facilities for additional treatment or disposal or reuse, must be defined to be a “domestic wastewater” (Fla. Admin. Code r. 62-610). “This definition is made solely for the purposes of classifying wastewater treatment, reuse, and effluent disposal facilities associated with the domestic wastewater facilities” (Fla. Admin. Code r. 62-610). This definition applies “only if the sole change to the quality of the reclaimed water during the once-through, non-contact, cooling process is a temperature increase, and conditioning chemicals, other than chlorine and other chemicals accepted by the Department, have not been added to the reclaimed water” (Fla. Admin. Code r. 62-610).

Centralized non-potable reuse specifications

Summary of Florida's Centralized Non-potable Reuse Specifications

Source = Fla. Admin. Code r. 62-610, Fla. Admin. Code r. 62-600.440

^* Information about sampling and monitoring requirements such as frequency, site and quantification methods not specifically listed in the table was not explicitly specified in the state-specific regulations.

Upcoming regulations

No upcoming regulations related to centralized non-potable reuse regulations were found for Florida.

References:

Clean Water Act, 33 U.S.C. §§ 1251 et seq.

Florida Department of Environmental Protection. 2007. F.A.C. 62-610 Reuse of Reclaimed Water and Land Application.

Florida Department of Environmental Protection. 2016. F.A.C. 62-600.440 Disinfection Requirements.

Florida Department of Environmental Protection. 2016. F.A.C. 62-600.445 pH Requirements.

Reuse of Reclaimed Water, § 403-064, Fla. Stat. (2021).

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Disclaimers

Please contact us at waterreuse@epa.gov if the information on this page needs updating or if this state is updating or planning to update its laws and policies and we have not included that information on the news page.