Waste water crops are feeding millions

STOCKHOLM-Vegetables, rice and other cereals in at least 53 cities in Asia, Africa and Latin America may someday come with warning labels that read “this is a byproduct of raw sewage”.

Against the backdrop of rising food prices and a shortage of drinking water worldwide, urban farmers are being forced to use either untreated waste water or polluted river water both for their agricultural needs and for their economic survival.

A 53-city survey finds the practice most common in some of the world’s poorest nations where waste water use is critical both to farmer’s incomes and urban food security while simultaneously raising critical health risks.

The study conducted by the Sri Lanka-based International Water Management Institute (IWMI) — and released to coincide with World Water Week in the Swedish capital of Stockholm — indicates that about 80 per cent of the cities surveyed are using untreated or partially treated waste-water for agriculture.

In over 70 per cent of the cities studied, more than half of urban agricultural land is irrigated with waste water that is either raw or diluted in streams.

Read full article

Source: Business Daily

For more information on water conservation, visit www.nuprana.com