Safety of Recycled Water Product

Australia has many examples of water recycling applications:

• agricultural use of sewage effluent (minimal treatment before reuse)
• irrigation of golf courses, sports fields,
• use as industrial cooling water,
• assist in wetland creation and habitat enhancement

Recycled water from WRAMS is an environmentally beneficial product produced from advanced treatment and filtering of wastewater and stormwater. Post treatment, recycled water is clear in colour and complies with the recycled water quality standards established by the NSW Department of Health and guidelines established by the NSW Recycled Water Committee.

Recycled water from WRAMS is suitable for:

• toilet flushing
• washing clothes
• washing pets
• watering gardens (including vegetables), lawns and parks
• filling ornamental ponds, water features and fountains
• fire-fighting
• washing cars, windows, brickwork
• irrigation of parklands and playing fields
• air-conditioning cooling.
  

Recycled water from WRAMS is NOT suitable for:

• human consumption
  
• drinking
• showering
• swimming

WRAMS requires ongoing regular monitoring of the recycled water quality.

The use of recycled water for drinking purposes was not condoned for health and cost reasons. It was concluded that the greater risk associated with the reuse of effluent for drinking would necessitate an extremely stringent monitoring program. This would need to include monitoring for viruses and parasites for which  methods to detect the viability of organisms are still being developed and refined. The additional monitoring was considered to be a significant ongoing cost with little or no benefit.

Download the Urban Water Reuse and Integrated Water Management (200K PDF) document for an overview of WRAMS.