Australian Water Recycling Guidelines

The draft version of the Australian National Guidelines for Water Recycling has been released for public comment by the Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council and the Environment Protection and Heritage Council. The Guidelines provide a generic risk-assessment and management framework that is applicable to all types of water recycling, and also provides specific guidance on uses which were identified as high priority: " large-scale treated sewage and grey water to be used for: - residential garden watering, car washing, toilet flushing and clothes washing - irrigation for urban recreational and open space; agriculture and horticulture - fire protection and fire fighting systems - industrial uses, including cooling water " grey water treated on-site for use for residential garden watering, car washing, toilet flushing and clothes washing. "

The draft Guidelines were accompanied by an Impact Assessment report from an independent economic consulting group which assessed the economic benefits and costs of a coherent national approach to water recycling under the proposed Guidelines.

The draft Guidelines document is divided into six chapters addressing the following aspects:

• an introductory chapter outlining the need for water recycling in Australia, the role of comprehensive national guidelines, and the rationale for adopting a risk management approach.
• a description of the 12-element framework for management of recycled water quality and use, which is modelled on the Framework for Management of Drinking Water Quality in the Australian Drinking Water Guidelines.
• managing health risks in recycled water. Microbial pathogens are the main source of potential health risks from recycled water, and these risks must be reduced to acceptable levels through treatment processes and on-site controls. The draft Guidelines provide detailed information on how information on human exposure and dose-response can be used to calculate the degree of log-reduction for different pathogen classes that is needed for a given water use scenario.
• managing environmental risks in recycled water. In contrast to human health risks, the chemical constituents of recycled water are the most important when considering the potential for adverse environmental impacts. The Guidelines describe how risk assessment may be carried out by grouping the endpoints into the broad categories of air, plants, soils, biota (aquatic and terrestrial), recycled water treatment plans, greywater reuse in-house, groundwater, surface water and infrastructure.
• monitoring. The Guidelines describe the four principle types of monitoring and their application to recycled water schemes. Appropriate and intelligent use of monitoring is a key element of effective risk management.
• consultation and communication. Effective consultation and communication with stakeholders, at the planning stage and during operation, are crucial to successful water recycling schemes. The Guidelines outline factors which influence community attitudes to water recycling, essential features of successful communication strategies, ways to establish partnerships and engage stakeholders, public crisis communication and questions frequently asked by stakeholders. The draft document also contains several appendices providing information on cases studies, preventive measures to reduce risks, and detailed risk assessment for key environmental hazards.

Following the release of the draft Guidelines, a series of stakeholder meetings were held in state capitals during November and December to explain the Guidelines and invite stakeholder feedback. The public consultation period closes on 13 January 2006 (Note added after publication: the deadline for submissions has been extended to 10 February). Phase two of guideline development, anticipated to commence in 2006, will focus on stormwater reuse, aquifer storage and recovery as a method of recycling reclaimed water, and potable use of recycled water.
For further details see: http://www.ephc.gov.au/ephc/water_recycling.html