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The role and place of global surveys for assessing wastewater irrigation

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Irrigation and Drainage Systems

Abstract

This paper traces developments in understanding the practice of wastewater use, particularly of untreated wastewater, downstream of cities. The challenge for global assessments is discussed in the light of findings of a recent multi-country survey that attempted to understand the drivers and characteristics of wastewater irrigation in developing countries. The findings are used to show that applying a harmonized typology is a challenge that may not be necessary as measures of magnitude rather than exact data are often sufficient to bring issues to the policy agenda. Some key findings that characterize wastewater agriculture are presented, and the paper concludes that irrigation with untreated wastewater is a common reality of probably increasing concern, which requires not only conventional but also in particular alternative health risk reduction approaches.

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Notes

  1. Seckler et al. (1997).

  2. Economies are divided according to the 2003 GNI per capita, calculated using the World Bank Atlas method. The groups are: low income—$765 or less; lower middle income - $766-3,035; upper middle income - $3,036-9,385; and high income—$9,386 or more (http://www.worldbank.org).

  3. Calculated as “actual volume supplied by a water utility, divided by the population served”.

  4. Source http://water.infomine-china.com/.

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  1. International Water Management Institute, IWMI West Africa Regional Office, PMB CT 112, Accra, Ghana

    Liqa Raschid-Sally

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Correspondence to Liqa Raschid-Sally.

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Raschid-Sally, L. The role and place of global surveys for assessing wastewater irrigation. Irrig Drainage Syst 24, 5–21 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10795-009-9092-8

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