Quality Criteria in Australian Reclaimed Water Guidelines and Effluent Discharge Licences: How Consistent Are We?

Abstract

The responsibility for water management in Australia resides with State and Territory governments and a range of documentation has evolved for governing effluent discharge licensing, on the one hand, and reuse guidelines on the other. This system has the potential to impede the introduction of national initiatives and new technologies relevant to water recycling schemes. In this article, we examine this documentation with a view to suggesting how future guideline and licensing processes may be structured to facilitate an increase in water reuse. Differences noted between national. State and Territory guidelines included reclaimed water sources, reuse options, nominated quality criteria, monitoring frequencies, sampling and testing methods and accreditation. Differences between licences and guidelines occurred for monitoring sites, nominated water quality criteria and compliance levels. The standardisation of these criteria where applicable, through collaboration between licensing and guideline authorities, would lead to lower monitoring costs for reuse schemes. The integration of national guidelines for reclaimed water, with those for fresh and marine water, would provide public health and environment protection guidance for water reuse. This could be achieved by including reclaimed water in the fresh and marine water guidelines, and by improved cross-referencing between both documents. Single points of contact for recycling scheme approvals, established through inter-departmental groups in each State or Territory, are also suggested.