The WHO guidelines for safe wastewater use in agriculture: a review of implementation challenges and possible solutions in the global south

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cg.coverage.countryGhana
cg.coverage.iso3166-alpha2GH
cg.coverage.regionWestern Africa
cg.creator.identifierPay Drechsel: 0000-0002-2592-8812
cg.identifier.doihttps://doi.org/10.3390/w14060864en
cg.identifier.iwmilibraryH050975
cg.isijournalISI Journalen
cg.issn2073-4441en
cg.issue6en
cg.journalWateren
cg.reviewStatusPeer Reviewen
cg.volume14en
dc.contributor.authorDrechsel, Payen
dc.contributor.authorQadir, M.en
dc.contributor.authorGalibourg, D.en
dc.date.accessioned2022-03-20T10:37:34Zen
dc.date.available2022-03-20T10:37:34Zen
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10568/118419
dc.titleThe WHO guidelines for safe wastewater use in agriculture: a review of implementation challenges and possible solutions in the global southen
dcterms.abstractGlobally, the use of untreated, often diluted, or partly treated wastewater in agriculture covers about 30 million ha, far exceeding the area under the planned use of well-treated (reclaimed) wastewater which has been estimated in this paper at around 1.0 million ha. This gap has likely increased over the last decade despite significant investments in treatment capacities, due to the even larger increases in population, water consumption, and wastewater generation. To minimize the human health risks from unsafe wastewater irrigation, the WHO’s related 2006 guidelines suggest a broader concept than the previous (1989) edition by emphasizing, especially for low-income countries, the importance of risk-reducing practices from ‘farm to fork’. This shift from relying on technical solutions to facilitating and monitoring human behaviour change is, however, challenging. Another challenge concerns local capacities for quantitative risk assessment and the determination of a risk reduction target. Being aware of these challenges, the WHO has invested in a sanitation safety planning manual which has helped to operationalize the rather academic 2006 guidelines, but without addressing key questions, e.g., on how to trigger, support, and sustain the expected behaviour change, as training alone is unlikely to increase the adoption of health-related practices. This review summarizes the perceived challenges and suggests several considerations for further editions or national adaptations of the WHO guidelines.en
dcterms.accessRightsOpen Access
dcterms.available2022-03-10
dcterms.bibliographicCitationDrechsel, Pay; Qadir, M.; Galibourg, D. 2022. The WHO guidelines for safe wastewater use in agriculture: a review of implementation challenges and possible solutions in the global south. Water, 14(6):864. (Special issue: Section Wastewater Treatment and Reuse: Feature Papers) [doi: https://doi.org/10.3390/w14060864]en
dcterms.extent864. (Special issue: Section Wastewater Treatment and Reuse: Feature Papers)en
dcterms.issued2022-03-10
dcterms.languageen
dcterms.licenseCC-BY-4.0
dcterms.publisherMDPIen
dcterms.subjectwastewater irrigationen
dcterms.subjectagricultureen
dcterms.subjectwater reuseen
dcterms.subjectwhoen
dcterms.subjectguidelinesen
dcterms.subjectrisk assessmenten
dcterms.subjectrisk reductionen
dcterms.subjectawarenessen
dcterms.subjectbehavioural changesen
dcterms.subjectfood safetyen
dcterms.subjectsocial marketingen
dcterms.subjectwastewater treatmenten
dcterms.subjecttreatment plantsen
dcterms.subjectwater qualityen
dcterms.subjecthealth hazardsen
dcterms.subjectsanitationen
dcterms.subjectmonitoringen
dcterms.subjectbiochemistryen
dcterms.typeJournal Article

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