The paper comprehends the set-up and the preliminary outcome of the agricultural work in the frame work of the EU Inco-Med project Development of cost-effective reclamation technologies for domestic wastewater and the appropriate agricultural use of the treated effluent under (semi-) arid climate conditions, with the acronym CORETECH.

One of the goals of the CORETECH project is to stimulate the appropriate usage of treated domestic wastewater in irrigated agriculture. "Appropriate" usage of this potential resource may refer to a number of issues such as efficiency, productivity, sustainability, safety (human, animal and environmental health), cost-effectiveness and public acceptance. These issues relate more or less to the typical characteristics of treated wastewater, which thereby constitute a negotiable link between wastewater treatment and agricultural use. The first input in the CORETECH project is, therefore, the provision of a document with the ‘state of the art’ technical information concerning agricultural use of treated wastewater specifically organised according to treated wastewater characteristics.

A review of recent literature has produced a list of 7 main treated wastewater characteristics that directly or implicitly relate to the design and management of wastewater reclamation and agricultural systems. These are in random order: 1) bio-degradable organic matter and suspended solids, 2) inorganic soluble salts, 3) plant macro nutrients, 4) trace elements, 5) pathogenic micro-organisms, 6) effluent flow-rate, and, 7) disinfectant by-products. An agricultural system must deal with these characteristics as well with the implications, in addition to other considerations that apply to all types of irrigation water. On the other hand, a wastewater reclamation system can be tailored to change these characteristics up to a level desired from both the agricultural system and the general environmental point of view. The general environment in this case relates to the environment beyond the agricultural system and refers to issues such as public health and groundwater, for example in the case of nitrate leaching. It is made implicit that an agricultural system has the potential, responsibility, and is often mandated, to incorporate concerns for these general environmental aspects.

CORETECH basic assumption is that the optimisation to reach appropriate treatment, and use of the treated effluent, is best achieved in a multi-disciplinary integrated approach, in which the mutual benefits and beneficiaries are better recognised and costs and responsibilities can be shared.