Drinking water Technology, Eawag, developed a method by which hazard maps could be produced for geogenic toxic substances in groundwater. This provides an efficient way of determining which wells should be tested. Parameters for drinking water quality typically fall within three categories: Physical and chemical parameters include heavy metals, trace organic compounds, total suspended solids (TSS), and turbidity. Microbiological parameters include Coliform bacteria, "E. coli", and specific pathogenic species of bacteria (such as cholera-causing "Vibrio cholerae"), viruses, and protozoan parasites. Chemical parameters tend to pose more of a chronic health risk through buildup of heavy metals although some components like nitrates/nitrites and
Crop tolerance to seawater are shown in the following table: Halophytes, or salt loving plants, can be irrigated with pure seawater with the aim to grow fodder crops. A trial was made by Glenn et al. to use halophytes for feeding of sheep and it was concluded that the animals thrived well. Setting the yield of an alfalfa (lucerne) fodder crop irrigated with fresh water (2 kg/m) at 100%, the following results were obtained for the yield of halophytic crops irrigated with seawater: After selecting the most salt tolerant strains, the University of California at Davis has grown barley irrigated with pure seawater and