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[SoulGrower]

I am fortunate enough to live in a city that reclaims its waste water.  I think.  It's at least great for those that want to grow grass in their yards, or bountiful tropicals like me.  I don't have feel guilty about wasting water to keep my yard lush and plants thriving.  However, I wonder what yall think about growing edibles with reclaimed water??

Personally, I have avoided it for the most part.  I'm sure my banana plants and monstera are getting their fair share from the sprinklers.  My local extension office says reclaimed water is safe to use on anything you have to peel.  Seems like a weird conslusion.  We're not talking about a pesticide that has been sprayed on the surface.  We're talking about plants drinking the water.  The extension offices, i have found, don't always offer the best advice.

I mostly grow my veggies in containers and water anything I'm going to eat with potable water/rain only, and will probably stick to it.  What would you do?  Would you be concerned if you knew something you were eating was watered with reclaimed water?

btw, wasn't sure exactly where to post this.  If a mod feels its more appropriate in plant science or wherever, please feel free to move 

[MadPlanter]

The major issue with reclaimed water is that in all their cleaning processes most contamination isn't removed except for the pathogenic stuff and the more solid wastes. Pharmaceuticals, environmental pollutants, heavy metals, etc...basically anything that went down the toilet in the municipality in question. Lots of these contams don't have regulations to be tested for either so its a don't ask we won't tell policy.

Other issues are products made from the clean up as well such as milorganite, dilodirt, and others. Some counties will even show up offering free "fertilizer" which is in fact the same kinda stuff.

Research done by people like Mike Adams will fill you in on the exact details.

Other issues to look out for these days are things like Grazon which is a newer class of herbicides being used on hay and straw field for weed control. Unfortunately it passes through animals and into their manures. If you use that manure in your gardens say bye bye to anything that isn't grass and you'll not be able to safely grow in the applied area for no less than 2-5 years without issues arising in your plants. So bye bye straw bale gardeners and people using hay for mulch in their organic gardens...store bought manures are like playing roulet now unfortunately. I have personally had it happen to me once but thank the Creator I used it for potted plants and didn't mix it into my in ground spaces!

Stories can be found online where people got totally ruined gardens that's just so sad. Also poisoned families from the milorganite crap. David Goodman did a few articles on Grazon at his site thesurvivalgardener.com

Peace MP

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[SoulGrower]

Wow!  That's good to know.  And scary    Thanks for the info MP.  I'll def look more into it as the info you provided is quite interesting!  And I'll keep to watering my edibles with potable water 

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[LIBERTYNY]

  The term 'reclaimed water' is not a definite meaning,  Different places use the term to describe different 'waste water' products.

 the one thing you should think about most is some plants are capable of taking in certain biological contamination,  Althow very uncommon it is possible.   Usually most of the harm is dome by direct exposure thats why they say to always wash anything first, althow some stuff washes eazyer than others.

 certain water types have alot more harmful contamination issues than others   (water from the toliet).  others are typically Benin     

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[ONandONandON]

Just found this pretty cool; a simple bio-reactor makes methane and fertilizer water,
 i got one of these barrels like in the video, will definitely be trying this soon..

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[LIBERTYNY]

  Trouble with those digestors is the methane is very impure and what its contaminated with (hydrogen sulphide) is highly corrosive.  Direct use in a I.C.E. will kill a engine fast, It can be 'scrubbed' but the gas will never be clean and will be a maintenance nightmare.
  None of that makes a difference unless you have a way of compressing the gas anyway.   

[ONandONandON]

Thanks i was thinking just a small lantern for a novelty light,
anything inflatable, blow-up chair, for low-tech compression,
i guessing would be enough gas for a few hours small flame.
Perhaps if it was success enough it could warm greenhouses.