Clean water to drink is in short supply in many places around the world. With intelligent water recycling for crop irrigation, life-saving drops of the precious liquid can be saved. Scientists from Aarhus University, are contributing knowledge and solutions to the problem in the EU project SAFIR.

One of the methods to save drinking water is to recycle grey water and use it to sub-surface irrigate high-value agricultural crops typically vegetables. Recycled (grey) water typically contains pathogens, including bacteria. When the water percolates through a sand filter and next through the soil from drip lines, some of the pathogens are held back. Scientists have investigated what happens to the infected water in different soil types.