Use of wastewater in agriculture: the water chain approach

The agricultural use of (partially) treated or untreated wastewater is increasingly attracting the attention of policy makers, officials and researchers. Agricultural water reuse is a very complex issue comprising a wide range of different elements, such as food production, water quality and water treatment, hydrology, health issues as well as socio-economic issues of the people involved including consumers and overall environmental risks. Behind this physical and biological complexity acts an institutional network, with many stakeholders with different responsibilities, juridical power and diverging political and economic priorities. Considering the rapid urbanisation worldwide, lack of financial means for adequate environmental protection along with the problem of local freshwater scarcity, increasing polluting streams and steeply increasing food requirements in and around urban centres, it is important to come to a jointly agreed approach in tackling this problem. It is suggested to study and design the agricultural use of treated wastewater as part of a water chain approach, which allows linking the different issues, the domain of different disciplines, in a logical and stepwise framework.