Agricultural Use of Reclaimed Water in Florida: Food for Thought

Abstract

Florida has successfully irrigated agricultural crops with reclaimed water (RW) for more than 50 years. Florida and California are the two largest producers and users of RW in the U.S. To allay early fears about RW, Florida regulatory agencies established rules in the 1980s that prohibited direct contact of RW with crops that are not processed but eaten raw. This means that RW cannot be used for direct contact irrigation or frost protection of crops such as strawberries or blueberries. Other states do not have such limitations on RW use. Reclaimed water has an excellent safety record, and no health problems have occurred from its use. The main edible crop that uses RW in Florida is citrus. Reclaimed water contains some macro- and micronutrients, but can provide only a small amount of nitrogen (N) to citrus. Some RW sources can provide adequate N to turf grass. Reclaimed water production has increased dramatically in the past 20 years, and much of the increased flow has gone to public access irrigation. While still important, agricultural use of RW as a percentage of total flow may continue to decrease, but the supply of RW continues to grow as Florida’s population increases.