| Beneficial Use | Use of water directly by people or for their economic, social or environmental benefit. |
| Criteria | Standards rules or tests on which a decision can be based. |
| Direct Reuse | Use of recycled water delivered directly into a water distribution or into a water treatment plant. |
| Environmental Buffer | A water body or aquifer which lies between a recycled water discharge and a water supply intake or extraction well. An environmental buffer will often provide additional natural treatment. |
| Greywater | Wastewater from bathing and washing facilities. Human wastes from toilets and food wastes from the kitchen are excluded. |
| Guidelines | Recommended or suggested standards, criteria, rules or procedures that are advisory, voluntary and unenforceable. |
| Indirect Reuse | Use of recycled water delivered into a river, reservoir or groundwater aquifer from which water supply is drawn at a point downstream. |
| Non-Potable Use | Use of water for purposes that do not require drinking water quality. |
| Potable Use | Use of water for purposes that require drinking water quality. |
| Recycled Water | Water recovered by treatment of wastewater, greywater or stormwater runoff to a quality suitable for beneficial use |
| Regulations | Standards, criteria, rules or requirements that have been legally adopted and are enforceable by government agencies. |
| Return Flow | The return of recycled water flows back to the river from which the water supply was drawn. |
| Reuse | Use of recycled water |
| Sewer Mining | Extracting wastewater from a sewer and treating it locally to provide a supply of recycled water for local use. |
| Standard | An enforceable rule, principle or measure established by a regulating authority e.g. numerical water quality limits. |
| Wastewater | Used water discharged from homes, businesses, industry or agriculture. |
| Water Reclamation | The process of treating wastewater and recovering recycled water of a quality which is suitable for beneficial use. |
| Water Recycling | Using recycled water for beneficial purposes. |
