The Sewerage Board of Limassol-Amathus (SBLA) is organizing the scientific workshop titled 'The quality of recycled water and its application in agriculture' on the 27th of April 2012.
The workshop aims to inform the general public, scientists, stakeholders and end-users about treated urban wastewater reclamation and the regulations supporting it. The issue of the presence and effect of emerging pollutants in the environment will be also dealt through case studies.
Speakers will provide an extended reference to the European policy on wastewater reuse. The legislative driving force behind the reclamation of treated effluent and its reuse for beneficial purposes is the European Urban Waste Water Directive 91/271/EEC which states that the «treated wastewater shall be reused whenever appropriate». However there is a need for further clarification on the definition «whenever appropriate». Yet some countries including Cyprus, have taken the initiative to establish national guidelines that conform or are stricter to the World Health Organization guidelines.
This workshop comes in response to a recognized need for continues supply of irrigation water of good quality, as well as a tool for the promotion of treated wastewater reuse as a mitigation measure towards the climate change predictions of further water shortness in the Mediterranean basin. The workshop will focus on the quality issues of urban treated effluent and its application in agriculture. The peer proof research results that will be presented, aim to examine potential interactions of emerging pollutants in the food chain that may pose threat to human health.