Environmental Health and Safety

The Reclaimed Water Facility uses a tertiary treatment process for the University’s waste water.  In 2013 the RWF was brought online. The facility draws secondary effluent from the chlorine contact tank at the WPCF and processes the water through membrane microfiltration and ultraviolet light (UV) disinfection. The reclaimed water is transferred to a finished water storage tank and then pumped to distribution after chloramination (treatment with disinfectants).  With the RWF online, a maximum of 1 million gallons of non-potable – not drinkable – water is available each day to meet the campus needs that do not require fresh water.  One of these needs is at the CoGen power plant, which uses anywhere between 250,000 and 450,000 gallons of cooling water per day.  The RWF allows the University to use the treated non-potable water to meet this requirement, replacing the need to pump and treat hundreds of thousands of gallons of potable water from our two major water supply well fields.

The University of Connecticut was awarded the Engineering Excellence Award by the American Council for Engineering Companies in April, 2010 for the RWF's water reuse and engineering services. It was also awarded the 2011 Institution of the Year award by the Water Reuse Association at the 26th annual Water Reuse Symposium for its innovation in establishing the first industrial water reuse project in Connecticut and providing a tangible lesson to students on living sustainably.

More information on the Reclaimed Water Project can be found here:

RWF Brochure