Water Reuse in Europe - Relevant guidelines, needs for and barriers to innovation

An EU regulatory instrument for water reuse is planned to be developed by 2015, in order to find innovativesolutions to the challenges of ensuring water supply for urban, industrial and agriculture use. Despite the waterreuse applications already developed in many countries, a number of barriers still prevent the widespreadimplementation of water reuse around Europe and on a global scale. These barriers will have to be overcome.This JRC Science and Policy Report analyses the technical, environmental and socioeconomic challenges to theoption of water reuse as a means of ensuring sufficient supply to meet the growing needs of society. It presentsand compares the most relevant national and international guidelines on water reuse, evaluates existing waterreuse standards in EU Member States, presents a risk-based management approach for wastewater reuse, andidentifies the areas that require technological and regulatory innovation as well as the barriers to be overcome.