The Production of Microbiologically Safe Effluents for Wastewater Reuse in the Middle East and North Africa

Wastewater treatment in waste stabilization ponds (WSP) is a very efficient, low cost, low maintenance process which is well able to produce an effluent quality that meets the World Health Organization's recommendations for wastewater reuse for crop irrigation. Treatment in anaerobic and facultative ponds is required for restricted irrigation, with further treatment in maturation ponds for unrestricted irrigation. However, it is shown that the land requirements for the latter are at least twice that for the former. Unrestricted irrigation should, therefore, only be selected if it is economically viable. The use of wastewater storage and treatment reservoirs (WSTR), after pretreatment in anaerobic ponds, is advantageous in that it permits the whole year's wastewater to be used for irrigation, so allowing a much greater quantity of crops to be produced. A hybrid WSP-WSTR system can be used which produces effluents safe for both restricted and unrestricted irrigation.