Although the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has a long history of using risk-based approaches for regulatory purposes, pollutant limits for pathogens in biosolids are not currently based on quantitative risk assessments. The researchers developed and demonstrated a risk-based methodology for assessing the risk to human health from exposure to pathogens via biosolids.

Recycled treated or untreated wastewater represents an important health challenge in developing countries due to potential water related microbiological exposure. The aim of the study was to assess water quality and health implications in a Mexico City periurban agricultural area.

A former US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) scientist is suing the agency's officials and researchers at the University of Georgia in Athens, alleging that they manufactured and published false data to support the use of potentially harmful sewage sludges as fertilizers. The sludges have been linked to health problems in humans and cattle

Some 30 years ago, as the United States began to tighten its environmental regulations on residential and industrial wastewater, operators of sewage-treatment plants embraced what seemed an eminently sensible idea. They decided to take the rich organic sludge left over after clean water is extracted and sell it to farmers as fertilizer. The programme might well be as sensible as it seems. It is possible that the millions of tonnes of sludge being spread across the rural landscape contain no significant levels of toxic chemicals, heavy metals or disease-causing organisms.

A range of treatment is required to remove hazardous contaminants in wastewater before discharge. The article explains the measurements of the main parameters required in order to operate plants efficiently.