ISO 16075:2015, Guidelines for treated wastewater use for irrigation projects

ISO 16075 is a new standard relating to the treatment and reuse of wastewater in agricultural irrigation projects and aims to maximize the benefits and reduce any related risks for the agricultural irrigation systems associated with the use of recycled water.

In regions where water is scarce, treated wastewater can provide a new and vital source of water.  It makes environmental sense, too.

The newly published ISO 16075 series contains guidelines for the development and execution of treated wastewater projects, including design, materials, construction and performance, and covering a wide range of issues such as water quality, types of crops that can be irrigated, associated risks and main components (e.g. pipeline networks and reservoirs).

The series includes:

ISO 16075-1:2015 contains guidelines for the development and the execution of projects intending to use treated wastewater (TWW) for irrigation and considers the parameters of climate and soil.

The purpose of these guidelines is to provide specifications for all elements of a project using TWW for irrigation, including design, materials, construction, and performance, when used for the following:

  • unrestricted irrigation of agricultural crops;
  • restricted irrigation of agricultural crops;
  • irrigation of public and private gardens and landscape areas, including parks, sport fields, golf courses, cemeteries, etc;
  • irrigation of private individual gardens.

These guidelines are intended to provide assistance for the benefit of users of TWW for irrigation. The guidelines relate to the widespread and common ranges of water quality rather than exceptional or unique ones and are intended for the use by professionals, such as irrigation companies (designers and operators), agricultural extension officers or advisors, water companies (designers and operators), and local authorities. The use of these guidelines by farmers might require additional specifications.

ISO 16075-2:2015 covers the following issues:

  • criteria for the design of treated wastewater (TWW) irrigation projects intended to prevent public health risks within the population that has been in direct or indirect contact with the TWW or with any product that has come in contact with the TWW;
  • specifications of the following:
    1. the quality of the TWW that can be used for irrigation;
    2. the types of crops that can be irrigated with TWW;
    3. the combination of the qualities of the irrigated TWW and the types of crops that can be irrigated;
    4. the strategy of using barriers that can reduce the risks that arise from TWW irrigation;
    5. the correlation between the quality of the TWW, the irrigated crops, and the types of barriers that can be used;
    6. the distance required between the TWW irrigation areas and residential areas.

ISO 16075-3:2015 covers the system’s components needed for the use of TWW for irrigation which relate to various pressure and open irrigation systems specifically drip irrigation as this method represents an efficient method of water delivery and water saving. Despite the fact that water quality and filtration of treated wastewater (herein TWW) using drip irrigation are critical, open irrigation systems are more popular and are frequently used for irrigation with TWW and therefore are covered in this part of ISO 16075.

ISO 16075-3:2015 will cover the issues related to the main components of a TWW irrigation project, including the following:

  • pumping station;
  • storage reservoirs;
  • treatment facilities (for irrigation purposes): filtration and disinfection;
  • distribution pipeline network;
  • water application devices: irrigation system components and treatment.