Free US Law Dictionary

Reclamation

Reclamation is the process of reclaiming something from loss or from a less useful condition. It is generally used of water reclamation, which, a century ago meant damming streams (thus the US Bureau of Reclamation owning dams), and now has come to be used to describe wastewater reclamation.

Water reclamation is a process by which water used in houses and businesses goes down the drain and becomes wastewater, which is then cleaned using biological and chemical processes so the water can be returned to the environment safely to augment the natural systems from which they came. It is used today as both aquifer and stream enhancement strategy.