Recycled water

Learn about recycled water, our role in regulating it and its impact on your health.

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Recycled water is water from sewerage systems or industry processes that has been treated to an appropriate standard for its intended use. Recycled water is also called reclaimed wastewater.

Recycled water is classified into 3 classes based on the water quality objectives achieved after treatment. The class determines what the recycled water can safely be used for.

Class A is the highest grade of recycled water. It is the only grade suitable for non-potable residential use. Examples of uses in the home include:

  • toilet flushing
  • clothes washing
  • garden watering, including vegetable gardens
  • general outdoor uses, such as car washing and filling water features and ponds that are not used for swimming.

It can also be used for irrigating:

  • open public spaces, such as parks and sport fields where public access is unrestricted
  • food crops that may be consumed raw.

Class B recycled water uses include:

  • irrigating sports fields and grazing land
  • industrial wash-down water
  • uses listed in Class C.

Class B recycled water may need some controls to limit exposure, such as using subsurface irrigation or restricting access.

For more information, refer to Victorian guideline for irrigation with recycled water.

Class C recycled water uses include:

  • agricultural use for human food crops that are cooked or processed, such as wine grapes and olives
  • livestock grazing and fodder, if safeguards are met.

Recycled water for the environment is the use of recycled water in surface waters to improve waterway flows to help maintain and support waterway health. EPA and the Department of Energy, Environment and Climate Action (DEECA) consider this activity on a case-by-case basis. This is to make sure it delivers its intended outcomes and protects human health and the environment.

Recycled water and the law

You may need a permission to use recycled water – for example:

The general environmental duty applies to the activities of producers, suppliers and users of recycled water. You must eliminate or reduce the risk of harm from recycled water so far as reasonably practicable. This means making sure that recycled water is fit for purpose to protect human health and the environment.

Victoria’s water recycling schemes manage recycled water quality. To meet your obligations under Victoria's environment protection laws, you should implement risk-based monitoring programs, procedures and processes.

Incident notification

If your business has caused an incident that harms or threatens to harm human health or the environment, you must report it to us as soon as you become aware of it.

If you hold a permission, you must notify us immediately if you breach any condition of your permission. This includes notifying us about any incident that harms or threatens to harm human health or the environment.

Our role in recycled water

We work with Victoria’s water sector and industry on developing guidance for recycling water. This includes how to assess and manage potential risks of harm to human health and the environment.

We work with DEECA to assess and endorse schemes for recycled water for the environment. We do this to make sure:

  • environmental values are achieved or maintained
  • environmental flow requirements can be satisfied.

Our guidance is for large-scale recycled water schemes of more than 5,000 litres per day. The guidance includes:

Emerging contaminants and recycled water

Emerging contaminants include pharmaceuticals, pesticides, industrial chemicals and personal care products, as well as antimicrobial resistance genes. Antimicrobial resistance genes are natural or synthetic chemicals or genes that may cause known or suspected changes to human health and the environment.

With the increased use of recycled water in Victoria, we take a proportionate, risk-based approach to understanding and managing potential risks of harm to human health and the environment. We do this by:

  • working with Victoria’s water sector and industry on developing guidance for recycled water
  • leading or partnering on research that helps us identify and learn more about emerging contaminants in the environment.

This research helps us build community confidence in the safe and suitable use of recycled water.

For more information, refer to Emerging contaminants in recycled water.

Impact of recycled water on your health

In 2021, our scientists partnered with DEECA and 13 Victorian water corporations to do a study on emerging contaminants in recycled water.

This study aimed to help Victoria’s water sector better understand emerging contaminants and manage potential risks.

We detected 180 chemicals in treated water. However, none of the levels exceeded current human health guidelines. These findings are consistent with the findings of similar studies done in other parts of the world.

The source of the emerging contaminants in wastewater is the community. The chemicals, medicines and products we use travel down the drains and into wastewater treatment plants.

Our role is to regulate how businesses and industry use, store and dispose of their waste. But we can all make a difference by reducing our pollution and waste. You can do this by:

  • taking medicines only as directed
  • returning unwanted and expired medicines to your local pharmacy
  • choosing chemical-free cleaning products
  • minimising the use of bug spray and pesticides in your home and garden
  • keeping onsite wastewater management systems well maintained and avoiding powerful chemicals.

For more information, refer to:

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