Communities around the world face freshwater shortages due to increasing population, development pressures, and climate change. Planned potable water reuse can improve sustainability and reliability of water supplies by generating high-quality drinking water from wastewater, though it faces challenges associated with public acceptance and affordability. Most potable reuse research has focused on large coastal communities with relatively high mean household incomes. However, the US Department of Interior predicts that “hot spots” of conflict over water are “highly likely” in numerous small-to-medium-size arid inland communities with low-to-moderate household income levels. Significant knowledge gaps exist for the arid inland context regarding communities’ knowledge of, attitudes toward, and ability to pay for potable water reuse, making it difficult for inland water managers to understand the feasibility of potable reuse for their communities. This research seeks to: (1) understand potable reuse barriers that are related to public acceptance, education, and costs, and (2) discover strategies for overcoming them to inform decision-making about the feasibility of planned potable reuse in small-to-medium-size arid inland communities. Using social science research methods including interviews, focus groups, and a survey, our findings suggest that residents of small-to-medium size arid inland communities are generally accepting of potable water reuse and are willing to pay for water reuse infrastructure in order to maintain their current level of service in drought periods. We also highlight various practices used for public outreach, education, and engagement related to water reuse, and find that public understanding of water scarcity, trust in the individuals and entities promoting a reuse project, project transparency, and positive media support were keys to success in introducing potable reuse projects. A preliminary conclusion is that residents of smaller, inland communities have a deeper understanding of water scarcity and are more accepting of potable water reuse than their coastal counterparts.