The Health Ministry warned Thursday that attempts to save money on gardening costs by using "gray water" - runoff from water used to wash clothes, dishes etc. - could be dangerous. According to the Ministry, studies of gray water showed that it had often had very high levels of e.Coli bacteria, averaging between 10,000 and 100 million e.Coli germs per 100 millimeters of gray water, a level similar to that of e.Coli bacteria found in sewage. Health Ministry regulations require that treated and recycled water used for agriculture or lawn watering have less than 10 e.Coli bacteria per 100 millimeters.

While gray water is never used in commercial agriculture, the Ministry said that the public could be in danger from infection if it uses gray water for private vegetable and fruit gardens, or even if it is used on lawns where children and pets play. While gray water can be successfully recycled, the Ministry said, most of the kits used in homes produce water that has too high a level of e.Coli. The Ministry has published a tender for the establishment of gray water recycling facilities using advanced technology that local authorities and communities can apply for.