Chapter 4 - Wastewater reuse for agricultural irrigation in Greece: Review of guidelines under the prism of the latest European Union's policy developments

Abstract

Aiming to address the lack of harmonized requirements, the EU has recently prepared a legislative proposal (directive) regulating the minimum requirements for water reuse in agriculture. As Greece has been one of the few EU countries that implements regulations for the reuse of reclaimed water in agriculture for almost a decade now and on the basis of the recent EU legislative developments on these aspects, the current status of Greece regarding this alternative water resource for irrigation is examined in respect to the existed national framework and the EU's legislative proposal. The main intention is that the aspects presented here, as well as the respective recommendations to form a basis for further discussions, for future improvements and developments of regulations and policies that would minimize the impact of such application to the environment, reducing public concerns and providing flexibility for the appropriate adaptation of guidelines to the specific applications.