The use of reclaimed or treated water from urban wastewater treatment plants for irrigation has been proposed as an alternative water source to address water scarcity issues in Europe. In this paper using agro-economic modelling, we analyse if treated water available for agriculture has the potential to reduce freshwater abstraction and, consequently, water stress. Implementing exogenous treated water quantities as an additional water supply at NUTS 2 level in the CAPRI model, we found that treated water reuse is a possible alternative supply source to address water shortages with a very negligible effect on farmers’ income and food production in the EU. However, the actual water reuse and water stress reduction is very limited due to high costs. Even climate change effects on water availability and precipitation failed to induce higher use. The one-size-fits-all approach modelled via a flat rate water price only encourages the reuse of treated water in a limited number of EU member states. Thus, in order to maximise the potential of reused water to address water scarcity, different rates should be used so as to ensure higher treated water volumes at lower costs.

已经提出将城市污水处理厂的再生水或处理后的水用于灌溉的提议，作为解决欧洲缺水问题的替代水源。在本文中，我们使用农业经济模型分析了可用于农业的经处理的水是否具有减少淡水抽取的潜力，从而减少了缺水的压力。通过在CAPRI模型中将外来处理水量作为NUTS 2级的额外供水来实现，我们发现处理后水回用是解决水资源短缺的一种可能的替代供应来源，对欧盟农民的收入和粮食生产的影响可以忽略不计。然而，由于高成本，实际的水回用和水应力的减少是非常有限的。甚至气候变化对水的可利用性和降水的影响也未能引起更多的使用。通过统一费率的水价建模的“一刀切”方法仅鼓励在有限数量的欧盟成员国中再利用经过处理的水。因此，为了最大程度地提高回用水解决缺水的潜力，应采用不同的费率，以确保以较低的成本获得更多的处理水量。