Tuesday 3 December 2019

EU agrees minimum requirements for water reuse in agriculture

Minimum water quality requirements for the safe reuse of treated urban wastewater in agricultural irrigation have provisionally been agreed by the European Parliament and the Council.

The new legislation requires treated urban wastewater, which has already undergone certain treatments under the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive to be further treated to meet the new minimum quality parameters and become suitable for use in agriculture.

It also sets out harmonised minimum monitoring requirements; risk management provisions to assess and address potential additional health risks and possible environmental risks; and a permitting procedure and provisions on transparency, whereby key information about any water reuse project would be made publicly available.

The practice of water reuse has currently only been established in a few member states and the EU Commission believes it is deployed “much below its potential”.

It expects the newly agreed rules to facilitate and stimulate the uptake of the practice and ensure a more predictable supply of clean water for EU farmers and help them adapt to climate change and mitigate its impacts.

Virginijus Sinkevičius, Environment, Oceans and Fisheries Commissioner said: “With this provisional agreement, we are equipping the EU with a powerful tool to tackle some of the challenges posed by climate change.

“Together with water savings and efficiency measures, the use of reclaimed water in the agriculture sector can play an important part in addressing water stress and drought while fully guaranteeing the safety of our citizens.”