Global Experiences on Wastewater Irrigation: Challenges and Prospects

Abstract

The need for irrigated agriculture is growing day by day and the largest water withdrawals from renewable water resources are for irrigation. In addition, the available water resources are decreasing and we need to use non-conventional water resources for irrigation due to looming water crisis (Raschid-Sally and Jayakody, Drivers and characteristics of wastewater agriculture in developing countries: results from a global assessment. International Water Management Institute, Colombo, 35p, (IWMI Research Report 127), 2008). However, the volume of treating and using wastewater is limited due to the lack of adequate data and knowledge and/or negative effects of improper wastewater management (i.e. use of untreated wastewater). A comprehensive evaluation of what has been done is necessary in order to explore wastewater irrigation and to avoid trial-and-error policies. Although a study of wastewater irrigation from crops, soil, groundwater, health, irrigation equipments, modern technologies, and other environmental aspects is useful, management studies in comparison with other aspects can help lead to more reliable and more extensive fi ndings and fi nally a better decision on using wastewater for irrigation. The chapter presents challenges and prospects that may help decision making for the use of wastewater in irrigation.

How Much Meteorological Information Is Necessary to Achieve Reliable Accuracy for Rainfall Estimations?

“…2 The accuracy of the time series models increased with increasing amounts of observation data of arid and humid climates. 3 Time series models are appropriate tools for forecasting monthly rainfall forecasting in semi-arid climates. 4 Determining the most critical rainfall month in each climate condition for agriculture schedules is a recommended aim for future studies.…”

“…Therefore, ARIMA models are non-static and cannot be used to reconstruct the missing data. However, these models are very useful for forecasting changes in hydrological processes considering agricultural water management, evapotranspiration, and water crisis issues [2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17]. Models of time series analysis (Box-Jenkins models) in various fields of hydrology and rainfall forecasting in irrigation schedules are widely applied, some of which will be described in what follows.…”

Establishing integrated agriculture-nutrition programmes to diversify household food and diets in rural India

“…Identified areas in our survey that need increased attention include watershed management, de-silting and deepening of water bodies to recharge underground water resources, digging 'Jalkund' (rainwater collection and storage through ponds/pits) and microirrigation using drip/sprinkler systems. Other considerations may include non-conventional water resources such as treated wastewater to supplement irrigated agriculture, as the volume of non-treated discharged wastewater in India is reportedly very high (Valipour and Singh 2016). Such efforts will potentially enhance the livelihoods and nutrition of small and marginal farmers in the future.…”

Effects of microarrangement of solid particles on PCE migration and its remediation in porous media

“…Groundwater is an essential natural resource for water supply to domestic, agricultural, and industrial activities as well as ecosystem health (Boswinkel, 2000;Valipour, 2012Valipour, , 2015Yannopoulos et al, 2015;Valipour and Singh, 2016). Unfortunately, with the rapid development of economic activities such as mining, agriculture, landfills and industrial activities (Bakshevskaia and Pozdniakov, 2016;Cui et al, 2016;H.…”