Interest in the practice of recycling water such as spent filter backwash and other treatment plant waste streams has been increasing in recent years. In arid areas, the recycle of waste streams is often considered good water management as well as cost effective. For facilities located near reservoirs or lakes, the practice of returning backwash water and sedimentation sludge to the raw water source can result in silt buildup and source degradation due to contaminants in these untreated waste streams. Thus, these facilities may consider recycling in order to protect their source. Some facilities currently discharging waste streams to city sewers have been asked or required to consider other treatment methods due to increasing concerns about metals and other contaminants in the waste stream and their subsequent impact on wastewater treatment plant operations. For these reasons, the trend towards recycling waste streams has been increasing. In all cases, studies should be conducted to determine how to recycle waste streams without disrupting treatment processes or degrading water quality. Increased concern about contaminant recycle, especially with regards to disinfection byproducts and cysts, has promoted the review of recycle stream usage and potential waste stream treatment processes. Due to interest in recycle streams and their potential impact on water quality, several research studies were conducted at three conventional water treatment plants in Northern California which recycle different types of waste streams. This paper presents the preliminary findings of these studies.