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Building construction requires important amounts of freshwater, thus depleting the already stressed natural water resources. This issue could be addressed by using recycled water in construction and in building systems. However, integrating greywater recycling systems is limited by complexity, costs, vulnerability to environmental fluctuations, and coordination of policymakers, developers, and construction practitioners. Here, we review recycled water systems in buildings with focus on case studies of successful implementations, policies, recycled water treatment in buildings, and health aspects. Compared to conventional tap water, the incorporation of recycled water enhances the consistency and workability of reclaimed water concrete by 12–14%, and it increases concrete viscosity by 11% and yield stress by 25%. We discuss the intricacies of building water recycling systems, with emphasizing on conserving water, mitigating environmental impact, and enhancing economic efficiency. Challenges include water quality assurance, dual piping infrastructure, and regulatory compliance. Government interventions, including incentives, mandates, and subsidy policies, emerge as drivers for widespread adoption. Technological advancements, such as membrane filtration and advanced oxidation processes, are examined for strengths and limitations.

The public’s acceptance level of recycled water use is a key factor that affects the popularization of this technology; therefore, it is critical to know the public’s attitude in order to make guiding policies effectively and scientifically. To examine the major focuses and hot topics among the public about recycled water use, one of the major platforms for social opinion in China, the micro blog, is used as a source to obtain data related to the topic. Through the “follow-be followed” and “forward-dialogue” behaviors, a network of discussion of recycled water use among micro-blog users has been constructed. Improved particle swarm optimization has been used to allow deep digging for key words. Ultimately, key words about the topic of have been clustered into three categories, namely, the popularization status of recycled water use, the main application, and the public’s attitude. The conclusion accurately describes the concerns of Chinese citizens regarding recycled water use, and has important significance for the popularization of this technology.

Recycled water has been widely recognized in the world as an effective approach to relieve the issue of water shortage. Meanwhile, with several decades of development, the insufficiency of technology is no longer the primary factor that restricts the popularization of recycled water. What makes it difficult to promote the concept of reusing recycled water in China? To solve this issue, a special experiment on the public’s attitude towards the reuse of recycled water was designed based on a Single Category Implicit Association Test (SC-IAT), so as to avoid factors like social preference that can influence the survey results, and to gain the public’s negative implicit attitude towards reusing recycled water reuse, which is close to the public’s real attitude to it. From the perspective of implicit attitude, this research testifies the “spiritual contagion” phenomenon of the public, which refers to refusing recycled water reuse because recycled water is made from sewage treatment. By comparing the implicit attitude to recycled water reuse with the explicit attitude that is acquired from self-reporting questionnaires about reusing recycled water, this research finds that the implicit attitude is more positive than the explicit attitude, which accounts for the phenomenon of “best game no one played” in the promotion of the recycled water reuse, that is, the public though applauding the environment-friendly policy, will not actually use the recycled water.

Recycled water contributes to sustainable development by providing a unified approach to wastewater treatment and rational water supply. However, the environmental benefit-sharing feature of recycled water may encourage some residents to show “free-rider” behavior. In this study, the evolutionary game model was applied to a game system consisting of two types of people, environmental preference and risk aversion. We analyzed internal and external factors and conducted a numerical simulation to seek both players’ behavior evolutionary and stabilization trends. The study found that interventions are indispensable during recycled water use’s initial and intermediate stages. Moreover, interventions should be tailored to different stages. In the initial stage, the benefits of co-use and the recycled water scientific information should be advertised. In the intermediate and mature stages, it is necessary to increase the trust coefficient or knowledge base of decided people who belong to early adopters of the recycled water diffusion system.

Urban residents’ perception of recycled water reuse is the foundation for the realization of recycled water reuse behavior. However, even though the perception factor is equipped, it does not mean that urban residents will use recycled water continuously for sure. Therefore, in this research, the authors try to put cognitive factors and emotional factors into a unified behavioral process. Based on this theory framework, the paper will interpret the initiation, formation and continuing process of recycled water reuse behavior of urban residents. On the basis of previous studies, this study established a theoretical model to study the influence of cognitive factors and emotional factors on recycled water reuse behavior of the residents. Based on the data of 325 samples, the direct and indirect relationship between the variables in the model is verified through path analysis and mediation analysis. The empirical results show that: firstly, the urban residents’ perception of recycled water reuse can activate their emotion for recycled water, and the emotion includes both positive emotion and negative emotion; secondly, although the recognition of recycled water can stimulate both positive and negative emotional factors, there are great differences between positive and negative emotions on the initiation, formation and sustainability of recycled water behavior. Negative emotion has a certain effect on the initiation of recycled water reuse behavior, but it has no significant effect on the formation and sustainability of recycled water reuse behavior. By contrast, positive emotion has no significant effect on the initiation of recycled water reuse behavior, but it has a significant effect on the formation and sustainability of recycled water reuse behavior. That is to say, at different stages, the recycled water reuse behaviors are affected differently by positive emotions and negative emotions. Thirdly, compared with negative emotional variables, positive emotions have a greater impact on individual recycled water reuse behavior. Positive emotional variables can significantly mediate the impact of cognitive variables on recycled water reuse behavior habits. In other words, positive emotions play a vital role in the sustainability of recycled water reuse.

The recycling process is applied in many water treatment plants (WTPs), although this process can lead to adverse effects. The effect of the recycling process on the characteristics of dissolved organic matter was evaluated based on a fluorescence excitation-emission matrix using the peak-picking technique and self-organizing map (SOM). In this study, an evaluation of two WTPs, one with and one without a recycling system, was carried out. Both WTPs show moderate efficiency during the coagulation–flocculation process in removing DOC, fulvic acid-like, humic acid-like, and tryptophan-like substances. The recycling process causes increased values of fulvic acid-like, humic acid-like, and tryptophan-like substances and specific ultraviolet absorbance (SUVA) after the filtration process of about 31.0%, 35.7%, 22.2%, and 6%, respectively. Meanwhile, the WTP without recycling showed a reduction in the level of fulvic acid-like, humic acid-like, and tryptophan-like substances and SUVA by 23.3%, 52.9%, 27.8%, and 21.1%, respectively. Moreover, SOM analysis based on the peak-picking technique can determine differences in sample clusters due to the recycling process.

Building sufficient recycled water infrastructure is an effective way to solve problems related to water shortages and environmental degradation, and is of great strategic significance for saving resources, protecting the ecological environment, and promoting sustainable social and economic development. Although recycled water is environmentally friendly, the public is still skeptical about its use, which has led to the failure of a large number of recycled water infrastructure investments; therefore, increasing the public’s willingness to re-use is critical for the construction of recycled water infrastructure. To identify the influence mechanism of user comments on public re-use behaviors, we conducted an eye-tracking experiment in China. The results demonstrated that (1) perceived usefulness, perceived quality, and perceived risk have significant impacts on the public’s willingness to buy; (2) user reviews can enhance the public’s perceived usefulness of recycled products and increase their willingness to buy; and (3) in the process of consumption, the public tends to pay attention to negative reviews, where user reviews alter the perceived risks and perceived prices of recycled products, thereby affecting the willingness to buy of consumers. This study provides a scientific reference for the construction of recycled water infrastructure and the further promotion of recycled water.

The public’s rejection of recycled water has seriously hindered the promotion of recycled water. Individual intention and decision-making behavior will be affected by group decision-making behavior. To clarify the interaction mechanism of the public’s intention to reuse recycled water from the perspective of group decision-making, this study used an eye-movement experiment with a recycled water consumption scenario simulation to obtain the influencing factors and data related to purchase decisions and used the ABM (agent-based modeling) method to simulate the interaction effects of the group’s intention to reuse recycled water in a combination of three influencing factor scenarios: sales volume, quality evaluation, and environmental evaluation on the Netlogo platform. The results showed that (1) quality reviews have a significant effect on the intention of the group to reuse recycled water, followed by sales, and environmental reviews have the worst effect; (2) in the two-factor interaction, the intention of the group to reuse recycled water was significantly improved, and the public’s intention to reuse recycled water was highest under the influence of good quality reviews and high sales; and (3) under the combined influence of the three factors of high sales, good quality reviews, and good environmental reviews, the public’s intention to reuse recycled water was the highest, but the effect was slightly different from the influence of two factors: good quality reviews and high sales. This study aimed to provide a scientific basis for the promotion policy of recycled water reuse.

Australia is the driest inhabited continent on earth and, more importantly, experiences the most variable rainfall of all the continents on our planet. The vast majority of Australians live in large cities on the coast. Because wastewater treatments plants were all located near the coast, it was thought that large scale recycling would be problematic given the cost of infrastructure and pumping required to establish recycled water schemes. This all changed when Australia experienced a decade of record low rainfall and water utilities were given aggressive targets to increase the volume of water recycled. This resulted in recycled water being accepted as a legitimate source of water for non-drinking purposes in a diversified portfolio of water sources to mitigate climate risk. To ensure community support for recycled water, Australia lead the world in developing national guidelines for the various uses of recycled water to ensure the protection of public health and the environment. Australia now provides a great case study of the developments in maximizing water recycling opportunities from policy, regulatory and technological perspectives. This paper explores the evolution in thinking and how approaches to wastewater reuse has changed over the past 40 years from an effluent disposal issue to one of recognizing wastewater as a legitimate and valuable resource. Despite recycled water being a popular choice and being broadly embraced, the concept of indirect potable reuse schemes have lacked community and political support across Australia to date.

In arid regions with limited water resources, numerous reservoirs have been built to support economic and social development. However, how the construction of reservoirs interacts with the surrounding ecosystem to affect temperature remains unclear. Spanning 2018 to 2022 in the Shiyang River Basin, we collected surface water and precipitation, as well as stem and soil samples. Using isotopic methods, we quantified how evaporation in the oasis reservoir‐riparian forest system affects the local climate. Our findings show that the latent heat released by evapotranspiration from the reservoir and riparian forest system reduces the daily maximum temperature and daily temperature range by 7°C and 6°C respectively, compared to downstream areas with sparse vegetation around artificial lakes. Additionally, it enhances local moisture recycling, increasing precipitation. This study reveals regional cooling effect due to interactions between water bodies, the atmosphere, and vegetation. We propose that establishing reservoir‐riparian forest systems can positively impact local climate regulation and serve as an effective strategy for adapting to global climate warming. Plain Language Summary Quantifying evapotranspiration's cooling effect is crucial to understand how water bodies, vegetation, and the atmosphere interact. The construction of water facilities has changed global hydrology and vegetation, especially in arid regions. Clarifying evapotranspiration in arid area reservoirs and nearby vegetation helps address water scarcity and climate change. In this study, a comprehensive observation network was established in Hongyashan Reservoir to quantify the evaporation loss of surface water and the heat absorbed by the vapourization of liquid water in the reservoir‐riparian forest complex system. The results showed that riparian forest accelerated the local water circulation and enhanced the regulation of diurnal temperature difference and diurnal maximum temperature around the region, mainly because the latent heat of water phase transition absorbed a lot of heat. Focusing on the ecosystem and human society at the regional level, the construction of reservoir‐riparian forest composite system will help to expand the ability and resilience of human society to adapt to climate change. Key Points Latent heat due to evapotranspiration reduces the daily maximum temperature and the diurnal temperature range Reservoir‐riparian forest system enhances local moisture recycling, resulting in increased precipitation A substantial portion of raindrops re‐evaporating beneath the clouds, which consumes a considerable amount of heat