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HomeThe potential of water reuse for agricultural irrigation in the EU
A hydro-economic analysis
The potential of water reuse for agricultural irrigation in the EU
A hydro-economic analysis
Publication metadata
In this study we estimate the distribution of costs of reclaiming and transporting treated wastewater for reuse in agricultural irrigation across Europe. We consider treatment costs as well as the costs associated with the water transport infrastructure and with energy for pumping. The study highlights a high variability of costs depending on the relative position of irrigated agricultural land with respect to the wastewater treatment plants. Treatment costs alone may be minor, about 8 €cents/m3, compared to other costs, with the majority of the theoretical water reuse volume available at typical total costs below or at 50 €cents/m3. However, when treatment requirements become more stringent, treatment costs are expected to increase to 0.23 €/m3, causing total costs to shift consistently. The energy requirements for pumping reclaimed water from wastewater treatment plants to agricultural land follow a distribution with a median of about 0.5 kWh/m3 and an interquartile range of another 0.5 kWh/m3, which seems slightly higher than reported in representative cases of irrigation with conventional water sources. The total volumes of water that can in principle be reused for irrigation are significant, and may help reduce water stress by up to around 10% in regions where irrigation is an important component. Water reuse may also contribute, in a less apparent and more uncertain way, to nutrient pollution mitigation. While the treatment and energy costs are rather minor, the total costs depend significantly on infrastructure costs and the distance from the urban wastewater treatment plants to the irrigated land, therefore the attractiveness of water reuse will vary for farmers. This indicates that (1) reuse is most suitable where irrigation infrastructure already exists and the necessary additional investments are minor, and (2) the cost of water reuse should be considered in a broader context as a water management tool. This context should be extended to include, on the one hand, the whole value chain supplied by agriculture and, on the other, the process of river basin management where reuse may represent a measure with important co-benefits.
- Published:
- Corporate author(s): Joint Research Centre (European Commission)
- Personal author(s): Bouraoui, Fayçal ; Aloe, Alberto ; Dorati, Chiara ; Vigiak, Olga ; Pistocchi, Alberto ; Grizzetti, Bruna ; Alcalde Sanz, Laura ; Gawlik, Bernd ; Pastori, Marco
- Themes: Agricultural and fisheries research , Environment — Ecology
- Subject: cost analysis , European Union , irrigation , pipeline transport , pump , research report , wastewater , water management , water management in agriculture , water treatment
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| ISSN 1831-9424 | ISBN 978-92-79-77210-8 | DOI 10.2760/263713 | Catalogue number KJ-NA-28980-EN-N |
- Released on EU Publications:
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