The use of wastewater to irrigate crops is far more widespread than previously estimated, according to a new study, exposing hundreds of millions of people to health risks and posing a major environmental hazard.

Basudev Mondal irrigates a farm near the busy EM Bypass road of Calcutta, India growing brinjal or egg plant.
Basudev Mondal irrigates a farm near the busy EM Bypass road of Calcutta, India growing brinjal or egg plant. Photo: Chhandak Pradhan / IWMI

Study results, based on on advanced modeling methods, show that 65% of all irrigated areas within 40 kilometers downstream from urban centers – amounting to about 35.9 million hectares (Mha) worldwide – are affected by wastewater flows to a large degree. Of this total area, 29.3 Mha are in countries where wastewater treatment is very limited, exposing 885 million urban consumers as well as farmers and food vendors to serious health risks.

Five countries – China, India, Pakistan, Mexico and Iran – account for most of this cropland. The new findings supersede a widely cited 2004 estimate, based on case studies in some 70 countries and expert opinion, which had put the cropland area irrigated with wastewater at a maximum of 20 million hectares.

Published this week in the journal Environmental Research Letters, the study was carried out by Anne Thebo, a recent graduate from the University of California, Berkeley, in the USA, with Pay Drechsel, leader of the Rural-Urban Linkages strategic program at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), as well as colleagues from Stanford University in the USA and Université Catholique de Louvain in Belgium.

The study results feed into a year-long communications campaign through which IWMI and the CGIAR Research Program on Water, Land and Ecosystems (WLE), led by the Institute, are fostering greater recognition of the need to enhance water quality and wastewater management in developing countries. To achieve this requires a dual approach (outlined in a new WLE/IWMI document titled Wastewater reuse in numbers) consisting of practical safety measures along the entire food chain as well as green business solutions that convert waste into valuable resources (like fertilizer and energy), which can be sold to help cover the costs of wastewater treatment.

Wastewater irrigation exposes 885 million people to health risks

The use of untreated wastewater from cities to irrigate crops downstream is 50% more widespread than previously thought, according to a new study published this week in the journal Environmental Research Letters.

Read the full article:
A global, spatially-explicit assessment of irrigated croplands influenced by urban wastewater flows

Press release

Wastewater reuse in numbers
Download Wastewater reuse in Numbers

Making the most of agriculture’s only expanding resource

Rapid urbanization in the developing world is pushing up demand for water and food, while also generating ever larger volumes of wastewater. Especially near cities, farmers are intensifying food production to meet increased demand, often using wastewater to irrigate crops all year round. The serious consequences of this practice, its wide scope and possible solutions are the subject of a new document, which presents key facts and figures to put wastewater issues in perspective.

Download the document
Visit the Year of wastewater campaign page on the WLE website

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