Need to educate farmers about the benefits of using treated wastewater for agriculture

Abstract

Treated wastewater (TWW) reuse is one of the strategic options for preserving available freshwater resources and ensuring sustainability. The success of any utility project is centered on public acceptance and utilization. A questionnaire is randomly distributed to 397 farmers to study the willingness to use TWW reuse for agriculture and pay for the reuse. The socio-economic profile of the farmers, satisfaction of water supply, and agricultural factors are considered as the influential parameters. Descriptive analysis, χ2 test, Mann–Whitney U test, and binary logistic method are used for statistical analysis. The analyses reveal that more than 90% of the farmers have willingness to use TWW due to water scarcity. However, most of them are unwilling to pay for the reuse due to their straitened economic conditions. The physicochemical characteristics of the TWW from a wastewater treatment plant are analyzed and possible reductions in the application of fertilizer quantity and cost are quantified. An attempt to improve the percentage of willingness to pay for the TWW reuse is made by detailing the economic benefits of TWW reuse. A significant percentage of the farmers who were initially opposed to paying for the TWW reuse have budged to pay for TWW at a subsidized cost.