Study suggests safety of treated 'grey' water

From Modern Farmer:

Water conservation types like to talk about the three basic types of water for use in agriculture: blue, green and grey. Blue water is clean and withdrawn from reservoirs, groundwater, and rivers. Green water is rain. Grey water is used, or dirty water, but not so used that it has no possible reuses. That disqualifies toilet water, which has to be treated more intensely (sewage is known as “black water”), but the leftovers from your sink or bathtub has a lot of possibilities.

A new study from Ben-Gurion University of the Negev in southern Israel—a place where water concerns are paramount, to be sure—tested the health of people over a long period of time using treated grey water in irrigation. Grey water can be treated in many different ways; some methods are as small as a few-hundred-dollar filtration system you can buy at many hardware stores.

The Ben-Gurion University of the Negev researchers found no indication that crops watered with treated grey water caused any negative health effects for consumers.

Read the rest of this story at modernfarmer.com.