The adoption of the Australian Water Recycling Guidelines by regulators with specific reference to treatment validation requirements

Australian Guidelines for Water Recycling Managing Health and Environmental Risks (Phase 1) (AGWR) were published in 2006 and present a risk management framework A major component is the validation of a treatment process for log removal of microorganisms A National Water Commission (NWC) Fellowship looked at the adoption of the AGRW and the validation requirements of the individual jurisdictions within Australia To enhance the uptake of recycled water, reduce the technical burden on jurisdictions and promote consistence between jurisdictions, three recommendations were proposed 1 Agree that treatment systems for low exposure schemes be exempt from individual validation, 2. Develop a national database for log removal values for use with low exposure schemes, and 3. Develop a national approach to the validation of treatment processes A process for achieving these goals is outlined in the paper