ABSTRACT
The use of treated wastewater for crop irrigation Alfieri Pollice and Ramy Saliba, IRSA-CNR, Italy; and Antonio Lonigro, Università degli Studi di Bari, Italy
1 Introduction
2 Characteristics of wastewater and treated effluents
3 Wastewater treatment technologies
4 Guidelines for agricultural reuse of treated wastewater
5 Irrigation with treated wastewater: crop types and irrigation methods
6 Conclusions and public acceptance of treated wastewater reuse
7 Where to look for further information
8 References
Reuse of treated wastewater is an established practice in many countries, and also non-treated liquid streams are commonly used in several developing countries lacking collection and sanitation services. Worldwide, about 7.1 billion m3/year (5% of treated wastewater and 0.18% of water consumption) are reused mainly for irrigation (about 50%) and industrial purposes (about 20%) (GWI, 2009). These figures show that despite the increased environmental awareness and the understanding that water is a limited resource in many regions of the planet, relevant improvements are still needed in order to achieve sustainable growth in terms of water utilization. These aspects were highlighted in the definition of the sustainable development goals, where water reuse is clearly included as a practice requiring specific attention (UN, 2015).
