Recycled water questioned

This story from the California Progress Report takes on, with zeal, the subject of recycled water. The author also delves into the GAP metrics for the California leafy greens agreement. Here is an excerpt:

The California growers that have been claiming that they can regulate themselves with their new organization and practices call their standards Good Agricultural Practices (GAP). After the huge financial losses this past Fall with the spinach E. coli 0157:H7 outbreak, the fresh cut industry accelerated work on a set of leafy green “Good Agricultural Practices” (GAP), now called the “GAP Metrics.” The Western Growers Association (WGA) led the coalition of industry and farm groups developingthe GAP Metrics. In a soon-to-be-published report entitled “E. Coli O157: Preventing Outbreaks”, Dr. Charles Benbrook of the Organic Center has much to say about the deficiencies of the California growers GAP metrics. You might say that Dr. Benbrook points out some “gaps in the metrics.”Dr. Benbrook states:
“The water testing provisions, collectively, are the most serious flaw in the GAP Metrics. The water testing provisions rely exclusively on testing for generic E. coli. While the presence of generic E. coli is an indicator of possible E. coli O157 contamination, the correlation is not strong, nor sufficiently reliable to judge a water source as safe if it meets the proposed generic E. coli standards. Not only is the basic standard governing water quality based on the wrong organism, the standard applicable to generic E. coli is also unscientific and indefensible. The standard is based on an outmoded recreational water quality risk assessment carried out by EPA in the mid-1980s.” Dr. Benbrook goes on to conclude:
“Clearly, new science and more thought needs to be devoted to how to set the standard for both generic E. coli and pathogenic E. coli in irrigation water. In the interim, the Metrics should be revised to require the testing of irrigation water for E. coli O157. Water with detectable levels of E. coli O157 should not be used to irrigate fresh cut leafy greens. Period.” (Emphasis added)
I couldn’t agree with him more. I have been adamant about the risk of projects like Monterey County’s recycled water project they call “Castroville Sea Water Intrusion Project (CSIP)”. Until the recycled irrigation water is regularly tested at what scientists call “point of use” (POU), the safety of leafy green consumers cannot be assured.


TK: The author, retired soil scientist Frank Pecarich, wants to add another layer of testing to the GAP metrics in place. I know little of the science discussed here, but I do know growers could be swallowed whole by the escalating cost of the tests that critics would like to prescribe for them.