Chapter 6
Wastewater Reuse in Peri-Urban
Agriculture Ecosystem: Current Scenario,
Consequences, and Control Measures
Prince Kumar Singh and Rajesh Kumar Sharma
6.1 Introduction
India is now the second most populated country in the world that sustains more than
16% of the world’s population with only around 4% of the world’s freshwater (The
World Bank Group 2016). In India, the agriculture sector has been the largest
consumer of water, although in next two decades share of water allocated to
irrigation will be lowered to 10–15% (CWC 2000). Water is a vital natural resource
that is an essential requirement for sustaining the life. It is investigated that 2.4 billion
people in the world are unable to assess clean water, while 946 million of people are
compelled to drink contaminated water and have unsafe sanitary practices (WHO
2014). The first evidence of wastewater reuse was found among the ancient Greeks,
where flushed wastewater from public toilets was stored in several storage chambers
through a sewerage line system (Jaramillo and Restrepo 2017).
Industrial or municipal wastewater reuse in agriculture is a common practice in
suburban areas of developing countries (Urie 1986; Jeong et al. 2016; Jaramillo and
Restrepo 2017), including India (Singh et al. 2004; Sharma et al. 2007; Kumar and
Tortajada 2020). In this changing scenario, reutilization of domestic and industrial
wastewater in agriculture for irrigating the plants such as crops, vegetables, etc.,
appears to be a valuable option. Besides being the source of irrigation, wastewater
contains appreciable amounts of many plant nutrients such as macronutrients,
micronutrients, organic matters, etc., but along with this it also contains harmful
contents such as heavy metals and different emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products, etc., which pose health risk to the living
organisms (Kibuye et al. 2019). Heavy metals are more toxic due to its prevalence,
non-biodegradable, and persistent nature.
P. K. Singh · R. K. Sharma (*)
Centre of Advanced Study in Botany, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi,
Uttar Pradesh, India
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
A. Singh et al. (eds.), Water Pollution and Management Practices,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8358-2_6
121
Wastewater Reuse in Peri-Urban
Agriculture Ecosystem: Current Scenario,
Consequences, and Control Measures
Prince Kumar Singh and Rajesh Kumar Sharma
6.1 Introduction
India is now the second most populated country in the world that sustains more than
16% of the world’s population with only around 4% of the world’s freshwater (The
World Bank Group 2016). In India, the agriculture sector has been the largest
consumer of water, although in next two decades share of water allocated to
irrigation will be lowered to 10–15% (CWC 2000). Water is a vital natural resource
that is an essential requirement for sustaining the life. It is investigated that 2.4 billion
people in the world are unable to assess clean water, while 946 million of people are
compelled to drink contaminated water and have unsafe sanitary practices (WHO
2014). The first evidence of wastewater reuse was found among the ancient Greeks,
where flushed wastewater from public toilets was stored in several storage chambers
through a sewerage line system (Jaramillo and Restrepo 2017).
Industrial or municipal wastewater reuse in agriculture is a common practice in
suburban areas of developing countries (Urie 1986; Jeong et al. 2016; Jaramillo and
Restrepo 2017), including India (Singh et al. 2004; Sharma et al. 2007; Kumar and
Tortajada 2020). In this changing scenario, reutilization of domestic and industrial
wastewater in agriculture for irrigating the plants such as crops, vegetables, etc.,
appears to be a valuable option. Besides being the source of irrigation, wastewater
contains appreciable amounts of many plant nutrients such as macronutrients,
micronutrients, organic matters, etc., but along with this it also contains harmful
contents such as heavy metals and different emerging contaminants such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products, etc., which pose health risk to the living
organisms (Kibuye et al. 2019). Heavy metals are more toxic due to its prevalence,
non-biodegradable, and persistent nature.
P. K. Singh · R. K. Sharma (*)
Centre of Advanced Study in Botany, Institute of Science, Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi,
Uttar Pradesh, India
© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
A. Singh et al. (eds.), Water Pollution and Management Practices,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-8358-2_6
121