Drought, halt the reuse of purified wastewater in agriculture

Listen to the audio version of the article

There is the Fregene purifier, which thanks to a thorough treatment of the water allows it to be reused for the irrigation of agricultural fields; The integrated system of urban wastewater and reuse of Peschiera Borromeo in the peri-urban area of ​​Milan; the San Benedetto del Tronto project with the implementation of treatment processes that will allow the recovered water to be used for irrigation; finally, the Fasano-Forcatella (Br) plant in Puglia, which intercepts the water from the municipal purifier and after having refined it, distributes it to 50 farms. These are five virtuous Italian examples of water reuse in agriculture studied and promoted by the Joint Research Center (JRC) of the European Commission. Experiences that become even more important in times of drought.

Potential of 9 billion cubic meters

According to the survey The reuse of waste water in Italy, created by Utilitalia (the federation of water, environmental and energy companies), the reuse of purified waste water in agriculture has enormous potential: 9 billion cubic meters a year, and the water comes out of the purifiers. Unfortunately, in Italy only 5% (475 million cubic meters) is exploited due to regulatory limits, farmers’ prejudices and a governance that is not yet well defined.

Drought emergency meeting

For this reason, Legambiente asks the government to define a water rationing plan for agriculture, civil and industrial uses for a timely reduction of withdrawals, to disseminate and practice the reuse of purified waste water in agriculture, overcoming the national regulatory obstacles linked to Ministerial Decree 185 /2003, with the implementation of EU regulation 741/2020, and to direct the production of 2023 towards less water-demanding agricultural activities by reviewing the irrigation systems that favor the reduction of consumption. The requests come in view of the first interministerial meeting for the drought emergency, on March 1 at Palazzo Chigi, chaired by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.

Legambiente: overcoming regulations

According to Giorgio Zampetti, general manager of Legambiente, «Today there is an enormous unused potential due to inadequate national legislation and also superseded by the 2020 European regulation dedicated precisely to reuse, which must also be applied immediately in our country. Then there are the resources of the Pnrr and those available to the commissioner for the adaptation of the purification system, on which we are still paying tens of millions of euros a year in European fines, which must also be directed in this direction. Agriculture is the sector that mainly suffers from water scarcity and at the same time is the main protagonist in the challenge to reduce waste and consumption. We need a reconversion of the irrigation system that focuses on drip micro-irrigation systems, the diffusion of less water-demanding crops and agri-food systems and a revision of the water use pricing system based on rewards and penalties to enhance virtuous experiences».