ABSTRACT
Water resources are becoming both quantitatively and qualitatively scarce. Irrigated agriculture is the biggest consumer of water in the world. In arid areas, crop irrigation requires up to 99% of total water use [13]. Sustainable water use in scarcity conditions involves treated wastewater reuse [11]. The agronomic and economic benefits of wastewater irrigation are obvious. Wastewater is used on crops, rangelands, forests, parks and golf courses in many parts of the world. Unrestricted irrigation, however, may expose the public to a variety of pathogens
such as bacteria, viruses, protozoa, or helminthes. The World Health Organization (WHO) has established microbiological standards for wastewater use in irrigation [7]. In Italy, excessive restrictions imposed by past and present legislation represent one of the major obstacles to the use of wastewater irrigation.
