(Wastewater Re-use and Groundwater Quality – Proceedings of Symposium HS04 held during IUGG2003 at Sapporo, July 2003 – IAHS Publication 285, 2004, pp. 53–60).
An indirect wastewater re-use project was established to determine the effectiveness of obtaining reclaimed water suitable quality and low risk for the irrigation of parks and gardens. Treated sewage effluent was infiltrated to a brackish shallow limestone aquifer and recovered by two recovery wells situated 80 and 100 m from the infiltration basins. A monitoring and research program was established to ensure that the water recovered from the production wells met environmental and health guidelines for water re-use in irrigation. The reclaimed water (i.e. that pumped from the recovery wells) was found to be physically, chemically and microbiologically different from both the treated effluent and the native groundwater. The results of this study have shown that indirect reclamation in shallow limestone aquifers within Western Australia is a viable means of obtaining reclaimed water suitable quality for irrigation purposes and that there would thus be a limited impact on groundwater quality in the surrounding area.
Artificial recharge, Indirect reclamation, Pathogen removal, Water quality improvement, Western Australia
