Wastewater reuse in Italy

In many parts of Italy, particularly in the South, it has become ever more difficult to meet the waterdemand. The recent years of drought and the constant increase of water demand for the civil sector havemade irrigation supply more problematic. Wastewater reuse could represent a viable solution to meet waterdemand. The focus of this paper is on the regulation problems, hampering the development of wastewaterreuse for irrigation, and on the potentials for reuse, particularly in Southern Italy. Planned exploitation ofmunicipal wastewater could help meeting the irrigation water demand particularly in Southern Italy, wherefarmers have been practising uncontrolled wastewater reuse for a long time. In Northern and Central Italy,where available water resources generally meet water needs for different purposes, wastewater reuse couldplay an important role in controlling the pollution of water bodies. Despite the fact that Italian legislation isextremely strict and outdated, for several years in some regions, such as Sicily, wastewater reuse systemshave been in operation; furthermore, several projects of wastewater reuse are currently in progress.Keywords Wastewater; reuse; irrigation; legislation; treatment; storage