Work package 3: Risk Management

The reuse of treated water for agriculture is a common practice, especially in arid regions, but also at individual locations in Germany. However, it has been known for a long time that wastewater treatment plants are major sources for the input of salts, nutrients and trace substances into the water cycle. An important question is therefore which trace substances are of particular relevance for water reuse in agriculture with regard to their occurrence and breakthrough into groundwater and their accumulation in soils as well as plants.
It is not yet adequately understood exactly how modern non-target methods are suitable for detecting and comprehensively assessing the fate of unknown substances in water reuse.
In FlexTreat, both the prior removal of substances in wastewater by more advanced technologies and their fate in the soil passage after impact - accumulation in soil and crops and breakthrough to groundwater - are considered.