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Space Station Freedom (SSF) will be operational for up to 30 years with missions lasting up to 180 days. Because of the need for large amounts of potable and hygiene water for the crews, it will not be practical to supply water from the ground (as was done for Skylab) or to generate water from fuel cells (as is done for the Shuttle). Hence, waste and metabolic waters will be reclaimed and recycled in SSF. Because of the unique nature of the water sources and the closed loop recycling processes, providing safe water will be a challenging task. Developing a program for the verification of SSF water quality to ensure crew health is the responsibility of NASA's Medical Sciences Division at the Johnson Space Center (JSC). This program is being implemented through the Environmental Health System (EHS). This paper will describe the strategy for the development of water quality criteria and standards, and the associated monitoring requirements.

On the International Space Station (ISS), humidity condensate will be collected from the atmosphere and treated by multifiltration to produce potable water for use by the crews. Ground-based development tests have demonstrated that multifiltration beds filled with a series of ion-exchange resins and activated carbons can remove many inorganic and organic contaminants effectively from wastewaters. As a precursor to the use of this technology on the ISS, a demonstration of multifiltration treatment under microgravity conditions was undertaken. On the Space Shuttle, humidity condensate from cabin air is recovered in the atmosphere revitalization system, then stored and periodically vented to space vacuum. A Shuttle Condensate Adsorption Device (SCAD) containing sorbent materials similar to those planned for use on the ISS was developed and flown on STS-68 as a continuation of DSO 317, which was flown initially on STS-45 and STS-47.