Recycled sewage water

A hospital worker's question on recycled sewage water, whose ruling Ibn Baz made depend on whether the traces of impurity are gone. ¹

The questioner said the hospital gardens are watered with recycled sewage and that staff are exposed to its spray. ¹ He asked whether this water is impure and breaks ablution, and whether the fruit of trees watered with it may be eaten. ¹

Ibn Baz answered that once it has been treated until the colour, taste and smell of impurity are gone and it has become fresh and sound, it takes the ruling of purity. ¹ Its spray then does no harm, and neither the trees it waters nor their fruit are objectionable. ¹ If traces of impurity remain, it is not to be used for irrigation or anything else, and should be diverted where it harms no one. ¹

The answer is published on binbaz.org.sa, the official site of Ibn Baz's legacy, as fatwa 3123 in the Fatawa al-Durus collection. ¹ The museum records this answer as a historical text attributed to its author; it issues no ruling of its own.