Health Considerations in Use of Tertiary Effluents

The nature of the agents involved, their health implications and needed areas of research are considered. There are infectious and toxic agents in wastewater that may well carry over when the water is renovated. The least understood of the infectious agents in wastewater are the viruses particularly in terms of dose and detection. Organic chemicals present, even in trace amounts, in wastewater and renovated water are of greatest concern to public health officials. There is certain indirect epidemiological evidence that the presence of such materials in drinking water is a factor in the cancer mortality rates in various communities. Chemical disinfection, usually chlorination, has been relied upon as the principal assurance of removing infectious agents. The recognition that the chlorination of water for infectious disease control containing organic material may produce carcinogenic halogenated hydrocarbons presents an obvious problem in water reuse management.