When wastewater reuse guidelines are formulated, the local conditions always have to be considered (existing treatment facilities, agricultural practices, hygienic standards, climate, etc.).

Please discuss the following questions in the Forum, important for the formulation of regional wastewater reuse guidelines in the Mediterranean.

•Is wastewater reuse already common practice in your country?
•Which are the main obstacles against wastewater reuse?
•What types of wastewater reuse are most relevant / mainly applied in your country?
•How is the wastewater usually treated before reuse?
•Which crops are mainly irrigated with reclaimed water?
•If wastewater reuse guidelines exist in your country, is the common practice inline with these guidelines, and how is the compliance monitored?
•For the policy for wastewater reuse in irrigation, there are two different possibilities:

(a)To choose different categories such as restricted or unrestricted irrigation, crops eaten raw or not, sport fields etc., with different water quality requirements. The control of the water quality is then more difficult and misuse not easy to discover.
(b)To have restrictive standards, so that the treated wastewater can be used for irrigation everywhere. If quality requirements are not stringent enough, irrigation methods should be prescribed, which don’t produce aerosols, and irrigation with treated wastewater has to be stopped for a determined period before harvesting.

•Which option do you regard as more appropriate for the Mediterranean region?
•What parameters do you consider most important to be reflected / regulated in Mediterranean wastewater reuse guidelines?
•What standards are economically and administratively enforceable in your country?