Recent events in the Coffs Harbour region of NSW relating to sewage treatment and ocean outfalls for effluent have highlighted the potential for effluent re-use within the region. Coffs Harbour has periodical potable water shortages and is currently seeking to source water supplies within the water district for augmentation purposes in the near future, This paper examines the cost and technical feasibility of potable water substitution within the region for a specific project, Apart from this project, the concept has a much wider applicability in urban water management, This case study identifies the opportunity and summarizes the costs of reclaiming water by desalination relative to wastewater recovery, and compares those costs with current potable charges, The discussion will indicate the conceptual design acid layout, Capital and operating costs are summarized to show the costs per kl for the various options, The results indicate that the decreasing cost of technology as well as marginal costs make these processes worthy of greater acceptance when the quality is compared with alternative existing processes that are so dependent upon chemical flocculation, coagulation and disinfection and a high level of control mandatory in those systems.