There are many areas in the Central and Western United States with water supplies not meeting quality regulations. In many cases, there is insufficient water to meet demands. In others, there is enough water, but it is of poor quality. This paper describes two municipalities that have groundwater supplies of adequate quantity but inadequate quality. Both municipalities anticipate discharging concentrate from the treatment process to a river. Regulatory agencies have provided permits to do so in one case, and have indicated a willingness to do so in the other. Surface discharge of the concentrate has improved the economics of the projects and helped to make them feasible. The two projects are located in the Central United States, in Nebraska and Colorado. Seward is located in east central Nebraska. The City of Seward is preparing to construct a 4 MGD reverse osmosis plant to reduce nitrate, hardness and TDS levels in its water. Las Animas is located in southeast Colorado, on the Arkansas river. Its groundwater supply (with hardness of about 1500 mg/L and sulfate of about 2000 mg/L) will be treated in a 1 MGD reverse osmosis plant.