Proposed Quality Standards for The Systems of Groundwater Recharge with Treated
Urban Wastewater-Case Study, Jordan.

Adel Awad
Dept. of Environmental Engireering, P.O. Box 1385, Tishreen University, Lattakia, Syria.

Abstract

In the Arab countries, groundwater recharge projects with reclaimed municipal wastewater have a great potential due to the increased demands for high quality water, shortage of natural water sources, increased quantities of reclaimed wastewater.
Till now there has been very little application of such systems despite the fact that such projects constitute a main source for potable water. The standards or regulation that control groundwater recharge by treated wastewater are not available in a scientific way. This paper present some basic and practical proposals for such standards, it includes some necessary elements for the promotion of advanced wastewater treatment processes-taking treatment plants in Jordan as a case study.
The proposed standards are based on combination of controls intended to maintain a microbiologically and chemically safe groundwater recharge operation. These controls depend on a unified and integral criteria such as the necessary wastewater treatment processes, treatment through unsaturated soil and maintenance of good quality for the extracted potable water supply in order to achieve sound groundwater basin management.
These proposed standards may be applied in other Arab and developing countries where similar wastewater treatment plants are available.