Introduction Water recycling is the process by which individuals harness, treat and reuse water for various purposes. It may occur through water reclamation. This involves the treatment of sewage effluent for domestic and commercial use. Alternatively, recycled water may come from storm water or rain water. Potable use is the human consumption of recycled water while planned reuse refers to deliberate treatment of wastewater for other uses. Recycled water holds a lot of promise in the field of agriculture and industry, but its application as a potable source is still quite contentious, limited and risky. Whether recycled water is safe for drinking The question of whether recycled water is safe for drinking is of high relevance to a discussion on water-borne diseases because raw waste water contains high amounts of faecal matter, so it takes a rigorous and fool proof method to eradicate all disease-causing pathogens in recycled waste water. Ashbolt (2004) explains that ingestion of unsafe drinking water transmits waterborne diseases. Usually, the water supply system of predisposed communities is susceptible to faecal contamination; over 1415 species of pathogens can be found in untreated waste water. Urine and faeces transmit these illnesses and may lead to severe complications or death. Typical examples include cholera, typhoid, gastroenteritis, infectious hepatitis, bacillary dysentery and amoeba, rotavirus, Escherichia Coli and Guardia Lamblia. Treatment of waste water may minimise certain pathogens, but in highly infected water, it is difficult to eliminate all of them. Furthermore, recycling methods need to correspond to the development of new water-borne diseases. Scientists must also be aware of the genetic evolution of pathogens, which may make conventional treatment methods inadequate. Chemicals may also threaten public health if present in recycled water. Conventional treatment may eliminate some chemicals, but could leave trace elements. Esposito et. al. (2005) affirm that the health effects of trace contaminants are still unclear at this point. Some organic compounds can disrupt hormonal systems even under extremely low concentrations. The international public health community is yet to create standards that would regulate treatment of waste water. Therefore, parties must use a multi-thronged approach which would require elimination of all the threats at different levels (Steyn et. al. 2004). This is not just painstaking; it may cause excessive use of municipal and government resources. Toze (2006) explains that membrane filtration is one of the few effective routes of treating wastewater for portable use. However, it is quite expensive and takes a long time to complete. Jimenez and Chavez (2004) underscore the need for rigor in the treatment of wastewater for domestic purposes. They assert that one must follow the fate of all the pollutants in the effluent in order to ascertain that they are absent. Esposito et. al. (2005) also outline some of the processes that waste water must go through during treatment. Disinfection and filtration systems in combination with secondary water treatment are effective for removing a portion of pathogens. The resulting product would