AMMAN (JT) — The World Health Organisation’s Centre for Environmental Health Activities (CEHA)  will  launch the third edition of its “Guidelines for the Safe Use of Wastewater, Excreta and Greywater” at a regional workshop opening in Amman today.

The guidelines are of great significance to the Eastern Mediterranean region, where most countries are facing severe water shortages and where wastewater is increasingly being regarded an essential water source for use in agriculture, both in a controlled and uncontrolled manner, according to a statement released by the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office (EMRO). 

Although controlled use of wastewater yields many benefits such as food production and increased food security, uncontrolled use of these substances may be associated with significant negative human health impacts, the statement added.

The WHO publishes the guidelines with the goal of maximising  public health protection and the beneficial use of wastewater  and greywater. 

The guidelines, which can be obtained from the WHO website (www.who.int), are intended to serve as the basis for development of international and national  standards and regulation for managing the use of wastewater  and greywater.  

Issued in four volumes, the new guidelines  are based  on scientific consensus and the best available and verifiable evidence and were developed through consultative participatory  and inclusive processes, the statement said.  The target audience includes policy makers, managers, scientists, educators, researchers, engineers,  public health professionals and those who are responsible for developing standards and regulations in the areas of public health, water resources, agriculture, food safety and wastewater management.

The current issue of the guidelines marks  a departure from the presentation of static standards and norms to presenting best practice guidance in risk assessment and management for the use of wastewater. They present an integrated preventative management framework for safety applied from the point of wastewater generation to the consumption of foodstuff grown with the wastewater and describe reasonable minimum requirements for good practice to protect the health of people using wastewater and the health of those consuming the products.

Thirty-five officials, experts and managers in the field of health, agriculture and wastewater management from 17 EMRO countries, along with WHO experts, will participate in the “Regional Workshop on Health Aspects of Wastewater Reuse in Agriculture.” 

Over four days, they will review the guidelines and develop modalities for implementing them, starting with updating national standards and regulatory framework and management practices for safe wastewater and greywater use.

CEHA has been promoting  safe reuse of wastewater in agriculture since 1989 by providing capacity building and technical assistance to member states to develop their own regulations and management capacities for safe wastewater reuse. 

In addition,  the  participants will review the outcome of the recently completed WHO regional project on wastewater management and reuse implemented in 11 countries: Kuwait, Egypt, Sudan, Morocco, Tunisia, Yemen, Syria, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, Saudi Arabia and Jordan.

The project supported the development of management capacity for wastewater reuse including the development of monitoring and surveillance systems and good practice tools. 

Urging countries of the region to review their existing regulatory and management frameworks for safe use of wastewater and greywater in agriculture, WHO said it will launch a regional initiative to assist in the application of the new guidelines.