The tradeoff between water conservation/water reuse and food safety continues to plague sustainability focused growers and food processors. The World Bank estimates that 70% of global water use is for agriculture. Sustainability advocates point to decreasing water resources in face of increasing demand and urge water reuse as an easy solution.  While water reuse sounds like a perfect solution, increasing evidence shows that pathogens survive for longer than we thought in water (Bell et al, 2021). Other research demonstrates that our standard drinking water testing regimens may indicate fecal contamination but won’t detect food pathogens in water transmitted from other sources so the indicators we rely on don’t necessarily indicate pathogen-free water. Even standard disinfection methods may not provide food protection as detection of pathogens in disinfected water is complicated by a number of factors including pathogen dynamics (e.g., viral aggregation) and the presence of VBNC bacteria and some pathogens like cryptosporidium are resistant to chemical disinfection. Outbreaks of foodborne illness from viruses, Listeria, Salmonella, Cyclospora and other pathogens threaten the public’s confidence in the safety of the food supply and the wisdom of reusing water for irrigation. This food safety vs. sustainability tradeoff is impeding broad use of reuse water at a time it is needed to mitigate impending water supply crisis around the globe. This session will address this tradeoff and put forward some co-management strategies.  The session will provide perspective on how to evaluate the real risk and how to find appropriate technologies (new and old) for different circumstances. Co-management, evaluating the real risks to crop yields and safe food and applying new digital, microbiological, and disinfection technologies to optimize water reuse, will enable food processors to assure safe food, sustainably. Speaker: Phyllis Posy, MSc