Department of Environmental Hydrology & Microbiology, Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, J. Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Sede Boqer 84990, Israel.
Environ Sci Technol. 2010 May 1;44(9):3213-20. doi: 10.1021/es902646g.
Reuse of greywater for landscape irrigation can significantly reduce domestic water consumption. Alongside its benefits, there are potential drawbacks to greywater reuse, raising legitimate concerns about the impact on human and environmental health. In this review, a risk assessment framework is used to assess the adequacy of different regulations to ensure safe and long-lasting, onsite greywater reuse for irrigation. Existing regulations from around the world are assessed along with a standardized evaluation of measures taken to protect public and environmental health. In most cases, human health considerations currently dominate regulatory strategies, while environmental risks are either ignored or underrepresented. A distinction between single and multiple households was found to be a fundamental component of the regulations which often lead to approved utilization of untreated greywater among single households. We concluded that the use of untreated greywater is not recommended, especially in multihousehold systems as it may compromise public health, with single household systems posing more likely risks to the environment. Existing rules to control greywater use should be further revised toward the establishment of a more advanced regulatory system which can avert the salient potential risks associated with greywater reuse, while exploiting the enormous potential of this alternative water resource.
将灰水再用于景观灌溉可以显著减少家庭用水量。灰水再利用除了有好处外，还存在潜在的缺点，引发了对人类和环境健康影响的合理担忧。在本综述中，使用风险评估框架来评估不同法规的充分性，以确保安全和持久的现场灰水再用于灌溉。评估了来自世界各地的现有法规，并对保护公共和环境健康所采取的措施进行了标准化评估。在大多数情况下，人类健康考虑因素目前主导着监管策略，而环境风险要么被忽视，要么被低估。发现区分单户和多户是法规的一个基本组成部分，这往往导致单户家庭中未经处理的灰水被批准使用。我们得出的结论是，不建议使用未经处理的灰水，特别是在多户系统中，因为它可能会危及公共健康，而单户系统对环境构成的风险更大。控制灰水使用的现有规则应进一步修订，以建立一个更先进的监管系统，该系统可以避免与灰水再利用相关的显著潜在风险，同时利用这种替代水资源的巨大潜力。
