Agricultural water treatment is the process of cleaning and disinfecting water used for irrigation in order to reduce the risk of contamination on crops. This is important because contaminated water can lead to foodborne illnesses. There are different treatment methods available, such as chlorination, peroxyacetic acid, and ultraviolet radiation. Before choosing a treatment method, growers should consider the quality of their water source, such as the level of bacteria, organic matter, and pH. Treatment methods also come with different costs and regulatory requirements. It's important for growers to properly store and handle chemicals used in water treatment, and to regularly test their water to ensure it's safe for use.

• Minimizing risks: use of surface water in pre-harvest agricultural irrigation (Dery, Brassill, Rock 2019; University of Arizona)
  • Part I: Understanding water quality and treatment options (PDF 848 KB) 
  • Part II: Sodium and calcium hypochlorite (chlorine) treatment methods (PDF 2.3 MB)
  • Part III: Peroxyacetic acid (PAA) treatment methods (PDF 1.0 MB)
• Pre-Harvest Agricultural Water...Does This Look Risky to You? (Produce Safety Science YouTube video, 51:49 min., posted Nov 20, 2022). 
• Production agricultural water treatment options (DiCaprio YouTube video, 36:56 min., posted June 23, 2021.)  
• An introduction to options for treating production agricultural water (DiCaprio YouTube video, 26:11 min., posted June 23, 2021).  
• CDFA approach to production water treatments in the Produce Safety Rule (DiCaprio YouTube Channel video, 23:49 min., posted June 23, 2021). 
• How to use and monitor chlorine (sodium/calcium hypochlorite) in fruit and vegetable washwater and on equipment and food contact surfaces (Critzer, Wszelaki, Ducharme, 2017, University of Tennessee Extension) (PDF 1.3 MB) 
• Produce wash water sanitizers: Chlorine and PAA (Lawton, Kinchla, McKeag, 2015, University of Massachusetts Amherst) (PDF 186 KB)