Wastewater reuse in Italy

In many parts of Italy, particularly in the South, it has become ever more difficult to meet the water demand. The recent years of drought and the con stant increase of water demand for the civil sector have made irrigation su pply more problematic. Wastewater reuse could represent a viable solution t o meet water demand. The focus of this paper is on the regulation problems, hampering the development of wastewater reuse for irrigation, and on the p otentials for reuse, particularly in Southern Italy. Planned exploitation o f municipal wastewater could help meeting the irrigation water demand parti cularly in Southern Italy, where farmers have been practising uncontrolled wastewater reuse for a long time. In Northern and Central Italy, where avai lable water resources generally meet water needs for different purposes, wa stewater reuse could play an important role in controlling the pollution of water bodies. Despite the fact that Italian legislation is extremely stric t and outdated, for several years in some regions, such as Sicily, wastewat er reuse systems have been in operation; furthermore, several projects of w astewater reuse are currently in progress.