Guidelines for the safe use of wastewater, excreta and greywater. Volume III. Wastewater and excreta use in aquaculture

This volume of the WHO guidelines describes the present state of knowledge regarding the impacts of waste-fed aquaculture on the health of products consumers, workers and their families and local communities. Health hazards are identified for each group at risk, and appropriate health protection measures to mitigate the risks are discussed.

The guidelines are to be used as the basis for the development of international and national approaches (including standards and regulations) to managing the health risks from hazards associated with waste-fed aquaculture, as well as providing a framework for national and local decision-making. The information provided is applicable to intentional waste-fed aquacultural practices but is also relevant where there is unintentional use of faecally contaminated waters for aquaculture. They provide an integrated preventive management framework for safety applied from the point of waste generation to the consumption of products grown with the wastewater and excreta. They describe reasonable minimum requirements of good practice to protect the health of people using wastewater or excreta or consuming products grown with wastewater or excreta and provide information that is then used to derive health-based targets. Neither the minimum good practices nor the health-based targets are mandatory limits. The preferred approaches adopted by national or local authorities towards implementation of the Guidelines, including health-based targets may vary depending on local social, cultural, environmental and economic conditions, as well as knowledge of routes of exposure, the nature and severity of hazards, and the effectiveness of health protection measures available. With examples of current practices.