IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/eee/agiwat/v158y2015icp26-34.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Socio-economic background of wastewater irrigation and bioaccumulation of heavy metals in crops and vegetables

Author

Listed:
  • Raja, Shameem
  • Cheema, Hafiza Masooma Naseer
  • Babar, Shaista
  • Khan, Asif Ali
  • Murtaza, Ghulam
  • Aslam, Usman

Abstract

Water scarcity is one of the main constraints for agriculture sector in many countries. It pushes the farmers to use wastewater for irrigation as an available alternate, especially in peri-urban areas of developing countries. One of the drawbacks of using wastewater for irrigation is heavy metal pollution in the soil and water along with the toxic elements which enter into the food chain. This study aims at to obtain information about the socio-economic reasons for using wastewater from the farmers’ perspective and analyze the accumulation of heavy metals in wastewater, canal water, underground water, soil and crops, irrigated with wastewater. Two contrasting views were observed among the farmers about wastewater irrigation. Over 90% preferred to use wastewater due to its low cost and rich source of nutrients. Although, farmers know that wastewater irrigation have serious negative effects on human health and the quality of the ground water, they prefer to use it for lowering the cost of production and overcome the scarcity of canal water. The findings of this study showed that, ground water and canal water have more accumulation of Cr, Mn, Pb and Zn than the recommended safe limits. None of the water samples collected from different sources was found to be safe for irrigation due to heavy metal contamination. Wastewater irrigated crops and vegetables were also analyzed to determine the bioaccumulation of heavy metals. Concentrations of Cr, Mn, Pb and Zn were observed more than safe limits in all the analyzed vegetables (spinach, cabbage, cauliflower, mustard leaves and round gourd) and crops (berseem, sorghum, maize, rice, wheat, lucerne, sugarcane). This study showed that poor economic conditions force the farmers to not only sacrifice their own health but also the health of consumers of these crops and vegetables by using wastewater for irrigation.

Suggested Citation

  • Raja, Shameem & Cheema, Hafiza Masooma Naseer & Babar, Shaista & Khan, Asif Ali & Murtaza, Ghulam & Aslam, Usman, 2015. "Socio-economic background of wastewater irrigation and bioaccumulation of heavy metals in crops and vegetables," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 158(C), pages 26-34.
    • Handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:158:y:2015:i:c:p:26-34
    DOI: 10.1016/j.agwat.2015.04.004
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378377415001195
    Download Restriction: Full text for ScienceDirect subscribers only
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1016/j.agwat.2015.04.004?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Feenstra, S. & Hussain, R. & van der Hoek, W., 2000. "Health risks of irrigation with untreated urban wastewater in the southern Punjab, Pakistan," IWMI Research Reports H026997, International Water Management Institute.
    2. Hanjra, Munir A. & Qureshi, M. Ejaz, 2010. "Global water crisis and future food security in an era of climate change," Food Policy, Elsevier, vol. 35(5), pages 365-377, October.
    3. Scott, Christopher A. & Faruqui, N.I. & Raschid-Sally, Liqa (ed.), 2004. "Wastewater use in irrigated agriculture: confronting the livelihood and environmental realities," IWMI Books, International Water Management Institute, number 139075, January.
    4. Scott, C. A. & Faruqui, N. I. & Raschid-Sally, L., 2004. "Wastewater use in irrigated agriculture: confronting the livelihood and environmental realities," IWMI Books, Reports H035947, International Water Management Institute.
    5. Qadir, M. & Wichelns, D. & Raschid-Sally, L. & McCornick, P.G. & Drechsel, P. & Bahri, A. & Minhas, P.S., 2010. "The challenges of wastewater irrigation in developing countries," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 97(4), pages 561-568, April.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Saliba, R. & Callieris, R. & D’Agostino, D. & Roma, R. & Scardigno, A., 2018. "Stakeholders’ attitude towards the reuse of treated wastewater for irrigation in Mediterranean agriculture," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 204(C), pages 60-68.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Sana Khalid & Muhammad Shahid & Natasha & Irshad Bibi & Tania Sarwar & Ali Haidar Shah & Nabeel Khan Niazi, 2018. "A Review of Environmental Contamination and Health Risk Assessment of Wastewater Use for Crop Irrigation with a Focus on Low and High-Income Countries," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 15(5), pages 1-36, May.
    2. Amerasinghe, Priyani H. & Bhardwaj, Rajendra Mohan & Scott, Christopher A. & Jella, Kiran & Marshall, Fiona, 2013. "Urban wastewater and agricultural reuse challenges in India," IWMI Reports 147104, International Water Management Institute.
    3. Amerasinghe, Priyani H. & Bhardwaj, Rajendra Mohan & Scott, C. & Jella, Kiran & Marshall, Fiona, 2013. "Urban wastewater and agricultural reuse challenges in India," IWMI Research Reports 158342, International Water Management Institute.
    4. Scheierling, S. M., 2010. "Improving wastewater use in agriculture: an emerging priority," IWMI Working Papers H043153, International Water Management Institute.
    5. Minhas, P.S. & Khajanchi-Lal, & Yadav, R.K. & Dubey, S.K. & Chaturvedi, R.K., 2015. "Long term impact of waste water irrigation and nutrient rates: I. Performance, sustainability and produce quality of peri urban cropping systems," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 156(C), pages 100-109.
    6. Carr, Gemma & Potter, Robert B. & Nortcliff, Stephen, 2011. "Water reuse for irrigation in Jordan: Perceptions of water quality among farmers," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 98(5), pages 847-854, March.
    7. Sacchidananda Mukherjee & Prakash Nelliyat, 2006. "Ground Water Pollution and Emerging Environmental Challenges of Industrial Effluent Irrigation: A Case Study of Mettupalayam Taluk, Tamilnadu," Working Papers 2006-07, Madras School of Economics,Chennai,India.
    8. Stephanie Buechler and Christopher Scott, 2006. "Wastewater as a Controversial, Contaminated yet Coveted Resource in South Asia," Human Development Occasional Papers (1992-2007) HDOCPA-2006-36, Human Development Report Office (HDRO), United Nations Development Programme (UNDP).
    9. Hans-Peter Weikard, 2016. "Phosphorus recycling and food security in the long run: a conceptual modelling approach," Food Security: The Science, Sociology and Economics of Food Production and Access to Food, Springer;The International Society for Plant Pathology, vol. 8(2), pages 405-414, April.
    10. Victor Owusu & John-Eudes Bakang & Robert Abaidoo & Modeste Kinane, 2012. "Perception on untreated wastewater irrigation for vegetable production in Ghana," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 14(1), pages 135-150, February.
    11. Ward, Frank A., 2023. "Innovations for the Water Resource Economics Curriculum: Training the Next Generation," Applied Economics Teaching Resources (AETR), Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 5(3), September.
    12. Mekala, Gayathri Devi & Davidson, Brian & Samad, Madar & Boland, Anne-Maree, 2008. "A framework for efficient wastewater treatment and recycling systems," IWMI Research Reports 46387, International Water Management Institute.
    13. Jeong, Hanseok & Bhattarai, Rabin & Adamowski, Jan & Yu, David J., 2020. "Insights from socio-hydrological modeling to design sustainable wastewater reuse strategies for agriculture at the watershed scale," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 231(C).
    14. Raschid-Sally, Liqa & Tuan, D. D. & Jayakody, Priyantha, 2006. "Impact of wastewater use on farm households in Nam Dinh, Vietnam," Conference Papers h038717, International Water Management Institute.
    15. Bahri, Akissa & Drechsel, Pay & Brissaud, F., 2008. "Water reuse in Africa: challenges and opportunities," IWMI Conference Proceedings 245271, International Water Management Institute.
    16. Abedullah & Ali, Haseeb & Kouser, Shahzad, 2012. "Pesticide or Wastewater, Which One is Bigger Culprit for Acute Health Symptoms among Vegetable Growers in Pakistan’s Punjab," 2012 Conference, August 18-24, 2012, Foz do Iguacu, Brazil 126598, International Association of Agricultural Economists.
    17. Jayakody, Priyantha & Gunawardana, I. & Guneratne, S. & Clemett, Alexandra & Dissanayake, Priyanka, 2007. "Wastewater agriculture in Kurunegala City, Sri Lanka," IWMI Research Reports H041019, International Water Management Institute.
    18. Hosterman, H. R., 2009. "Water, climate change, and adaptation: focus on the Ganges River Basin," IWMI Working Papers H042415, International Water Management Institute.
    19. Sato, Toshio & Qadir, Manzoor & Yamamoto, Sadahiro & Endo, Tsuneyoshi & Zahoor, Ahmad, 2013. "Global, regional, and country level need for data on wastewater generation, treatment, and use," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 130(C), pages 1-13.
    20. Mekala, G. D. & Davidson, B. & Samad, Madar & Boland, A. M., 2008. "A framework for efficient wastewater treatment and recycling systems," IWMI Working Papers H041344, International Water Management Institute.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:eee:agiwat:v:158:y:2015:i:c:p:26-34. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Catherine Liu (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.elsevier.com/locate/agwat .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.