What Drives the Reuse of Municipal Wastewater?: A County-Level Analysis of Florida

We analyze a unique dataset of county-level water reuse in Florida to determine whether water quality or scarcity concerns drive greater adoption of water reuse practices. Using dynamic panel data methods, we find that a county’s water reuse capacity is influenced by water quality conditions as well as water scarcity conditions, where scarcity is manifested as less frequent and more variable precipitation. However, our identification of the water quality effect is more robust to the choice of model specification compared to our water scarcity results.