ABSTRACT
This chapter summarizes the health aspects of irrigation with reclaimed municipal wastewater, especially as related to pathogens. It describes the regulations in California that govern the reuse of treated wastewater. The contaminants in reclaimed water that are of health significance may be grossly classified as biological and chemical agents. Properly operated state-of-the-art wastewater treatment plants can reduce pathogen concentrations by many orders of magnitude. One of the most common pathogens found in municipal wastewater is the bacteria of the genus Salmonella. This group contains a large number of species that can cause disease in humans and animals. There are a variety of protozoan and metazoan agents that are pathogenic to humans and that may be found in municipal wastewater. Primary treatment has only limited effect on the removal of most biological species present in the wastewater. The concentration of pathogens in aerosols is a function of their concentration in the applied wastewater and the aerosolization efficiency of the spray process.
