The Knoxville Beer Board approved a special-event beer permit Tuesday for a Water for Life event at World's Fair Park where event organizers said beer brewed with treated wastewater will be served.

The permit matters because the event pairs water-professional outreach with a public demonstration: organizers said treated wastewater will be further purified, given to local breweries, and brewed into beer served at the event as an example of reuse technology.

Richard Yarborough, who represented the event, described the plan: “we take wastewater and made water, purified that water further through a process, gave it to 3 local breweries and they're making beer for our event so that we are recycling wastewater into beer for service at this event.” He identified Alliance, Next Level, and Print Shop as the participating breweries and said the local host for the Kentucky-Tennessee Water Professionals Conference is KUB (Knoxville Utilities Board). Yarborough said the event is scheduled for the Sunday of the conference activities and that family-oriented programming and water-education activities will be available.

Board staff reported the permit file was complete and Officer Presley reported no adverse record for the applicant. The board approved the permit on a voice vote with no recorded opposition.

Organizers said the conference will bring water and wastewater professionals from Kentucky and Tennessee to Knoxville July 27–30; Yarborough said the conference totals about 3,000 attendees with roughly 2,000 registered and about 1,000 tagalong visitors. The Water for Life public programming will give residents a chance to learn about water reuse and observe the reclaimed-water beer as a demonstration.

The board did not discuss technical regulatory clearance for brewing with reclaimed water at length during the permit vote; organizers and staff should ensure any required health or department approvals are completed before service. The permit was granted as presented; event organizers and participating breweries will work with staff on final documentation, if any was outstanding.