Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
TABLE 7:
Overview of technical systems for concept scenario 2—Concept of natural
resources flows.
Concept scenario 2—Economic and community development
Water supply
Wastewater
Agriculture
Solid waste
- Communal
RWH
- Use of treated
water from
channels for
non-drinking
purposes
- Community scale
wastewater treatment
plant (reuse in agri-
culture or for nondo-
mestic purposes)
- Reuse of water and
nutrients for chinampas
for agricultural produc-
tion
- Manure and other
residues to composting
- Separation of organic
waste
- Decentralized composting
together with sediments
from chinampas and other
agricultural residues
- Collection of inorganic
waste, recycling and dis-
posal
The advantage of implementing technologies on communal scale is
that larger quantities of water and nutrients can be recovered at one lo-
cation. Hence it is possible to reuse these resources as inputs for agri-
culture. In addition, side benefi ts, such as a business in composting, can
be established. However, it is more of a challenge to separate all waste
streams from the source as certain wastes have specifi c challenges. Urine,
for example, does not allow for transportation over long distances through
pipes as it can result in clogging due to precipitation of minerals (primarily
Calcium and Magnesium Phosphates) [36].
In the concept scenario “Centralization” the main goal is a strong
connection to the development of Mexico City and integration into the
planned urbanization. All infrastructure services are centralized as much
as possible.
In a centralized scenario it is much more diffi cult to recover resources
from wastewater and solid waste (as shown in Table 8). The only resources
fl ow between the sectors is through the organic fraction, which can be
composted in a centralized location before being solid back to the farmers.
The treated wastewater will be discharged to the environment.
Examples of resources fl ows from earlier discussed technologies are as
follows: Through the implementation of an on-site RWH system with post-
treatment the inhabitants will be less depended on the centralized water
supply system for their water supply. If all annual precipitation (807 mm)
