Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
4.2 Elements of Agroecological Practices in Existing
Wastewater Irrigated Agricultural Systems
Wastewater irrigation often exists without authorities being aware of this. In many
cases, farmers have started wastewater reuse schemes on their own initiative and
even defended them against attempts by authorities to stop them (Weckenbrock et al.
2011
). By engaging in cooperation rather than threatening such initiatives, author-
ities can build on existing, decentralized bottom-up structures and concentrate their
efforts in assisting wastewater-using farmers in making their work safer and more
ef
cient. This could take the latter out of a legal grey area and turn them into partners
in the task of reusing wastewater safely and sustainably. The agroecological
approach is thus very much about promoting integration between sectors at the local
level. This will need collaboration between farmers and their communities, as well as
local health and environmental departments and, importantly, the local planners.
Champions at the local authority level, perhaps the Mayor, may also support the
campaign. A
nd
out about wastewater reuse in their municipalities. Existing wastewater reuse
schemes would also be a good starting point for determining which crops and
techniques are viable in a given context of wastewater-irrigated agriculture.
Although this has not yet been a research focus, examples of agroecological prac-
tices used in existing wastewater reuse schemes can be found in the literature. The
following are examples of interventions with agroecological elements. Compared to
highly technical approaches to wastewater treatment, these rely more on living
systems and are cheaper. In many cases, these systems were not centrally designed
and installed but developed by farmers by trial and error (Table
3
).
first step that of
cial bodies could undertake would therefore be to
4.3 Using Agroecology in the Design of Productive
Wastewater Reuse Schemes
All wastewater reuse schemes depend on the speci
c context of each place. The
physical context includes factors like climate, soils, irrigation water requirements,
availability, quality, etc. The socioeconomic context entails amongst others, the
history of landuse, social structure, supply, demand, pricing of agricultural prod-
ucts, land ownership structures and the legal context. Moreover, to be sustainable,
an agricultural wastewater reuse scheme must be planned and developed in coop-
eration between a range of stakeholders including planners, farmers and residents of
the respective areas. All this implies that there cannot be one solution for all
possible wastewater scenarios.
However, in the task of moving towards sustainable agricultural systems for
wastewater reuse, it is possible to learn from existing wastewater irrigation and
from agroecological approaches. Such systems can serve to constitute a transition
towards or even an alternative to conventional,
technical
treatment systems.
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