1. WASTE-WATER IRRIGATION & RECOGNITION, REGULATION AND RISK.
FOOD SAFETY
RECOGNITION, REGULATION AND RISK.
FIONA MARSHALL, SPRU, UNIVERSITY OF SUSSEX

2. Peri-Urban Agriculture Small holder farmers (> 50% landless or < 1ha land) Grain crops for home consumption, but also vital for supply of perishable vegetables to cities e.g. 77% spinach (D), 43% aubergine (V) 70-90% households involved in agriculture and 25-60% household income Very little formal support accessed Highly dynamic transition zone, rapid environmental degradation worsening levels of discrimination & changing health concerns.

3. Lohta: industrial and domestic effluent mixing in open drain used for irrigation
Lohta: receives industrial effluent from Chanpur industrial estate, lahatara industrial estate and DLW.

5. DLW treated water in Lohta area

6. Project funded by UK DFID
Contaminated irrigation water and food safety for the urban and peri-urban poor: in India and Zambia
Project funded by UK DFID
Social
Technological and
Environmental
Pathways to
Sustainability

7. Areas to address
To use a case study of wastewater use linked to food safety concerns in India to illustrate:
The link between environmental pollution-wastewater irrigation-food safety &livelihoods.
Areas of oversight in formal policy and planning
The role of regulation
Does regulation reduce risk?
Some Immediate priorities

8. Case study on wastewater use and food safety in India – as systems perspective
Assess heavy metal contamination of vegetables in Varanasi and implications for health & livelihoods.
Investigate relationships between crop contamination, wastewater irrigation and industrial pollution sources.
Work with local stakeholders to explore current practices, concerns, perceptions, adaptation, actions.
Determine practical measures to ameliorate impacts of heavy metal pollution on food safety.
Engage with institutional and policy processes to identify opportunities towards alternative (more Sustainable) management approaches.

9. Assessing heavy metal contamination
Wide range of crops grown around Delhi and Varanasi have been tested for contamination
Including - Bhindi, Palak, Cauliflower, Cabbage, Wheat, Tomato, Brinjal, Radish, Pumpkin, Wheat, Amaranthus
Heavy metals
Cadmium, Zinc, Nickel, Manganese, Copper, Lead, Chromium

10. Heavy metal contamination in the food basket of
peri-urban communities – levels far in exceedence of
‘safe’ permissible limits.

11. Lead contamination exceeds standards (many fold) at wastewater irrigated sites

12. High levels of heavy metals in a range of crops
were directly linked to irrigation with wastewater
(as opposed to other possible sources.

13. There are a range of potential technical interventions
Find effective means of tackling pollution at source
e.g. additional effluent treatment or bioremediation.
BUT no simple relationship between levels in water and levels in crops. Location, crop and practice specific.
Ameliorate the impacts of using polluted water sources.
e.g. soil treatments, Fertiliser regimes, specific cultivars,
Low cost monitoring, farmer support mechanisms
But no simple relationship between levels in water and levels in crops a safe levels somewhere will not be safe somewhere else
Some groups are more vulnerable to a given level of contamination

14. Policy fields related to wastewater irrigation in peri-urban areas
Farmers
Consumers
Health &
Nutrition
Policy
Livelihood
Environment
Policy
Industrial
Pollution
Contaminated Crop
Food Safety
Policy
Effluent/ sewage
Irrigation
water
Industrial
zoning
Contaminated soil
Urbanisation
Agricultural
Practices
Urban
Planning
Irrigation
Management
Agricultural
Policy
Water
Policy

15. Key gaps in formal recognition
Wastewater not officially recognized as a source of irrigation water.
No formal recognition of the link between industrial pollution and food safety – and particular threat to the poor.
No irrigation water quality standard for heavy metals in India and many other countries.
No priority given in food safety policy to the monitoring of fresh produce important to the poor.

17. Regulatory Approaches
Following formal recognition…
Standards for heavy metals in irrigation water
But levels in water don’t necessarily reflect levels in crops
Existing monitoring programme overstretched
Complexities of multiple sources etc for polluter pays
Amend and enforce standards for fresh produce
- Contamination an invisible credence property that often requires regulation.
-But likely to adversely affect poor producers and consumers.
-Shortfalls of new food safety authority.
Need a framework for management of wastewater (industrial, domestic, treated/untreated, partially treated) within the broader framework of water management, environmental pollution and food safety and security strategies.

18. Does regulation reduce risk?
How inclusive are regulatory ‘framings’ of experience and concerns of poorer communities?
Regulation can reinforce or hinder particular technological pathways.
Should emphasis be on controlling known risks, or developing resource management strategies capable of adapting to change whilst preserving environmental integrity and social justice?

19. Towards Sustainable waste-water management
Develop means to incorporate user practices, concerns and aspirations, in all their diversity, in decision making.
Actor oriented approaches that recognise the role of power and politics – beyond ‘supply’
Integrating mechanisms needed i) across disciplines and sectors and ii) across research and policy
From food chains to systems perspectives (socio-ecological/technical)-
Build on successes in participatory approaches in water management and tools for social appraisal.

20. Some recommendation from our Indian case study
Formal recognition of wastewater irrigation is essential
Urgent action needed to ameliorate impacts of heavy metal contamination of crops in badly affected areas whilst longer term strategies emerge.
Need for comprehensive status report on wastewater irrigation (extent, livelihood opportunities and threats, health links – different perspectives)
Formal recognition and awareness raising of link with industrial pollution & food safety required - but in context of other opportunities and threats of wastewater reuse.
Establish multistakeholder platforms and innovative approaches to illucidate appropriate technological choices and pathways to Sustainable water management.
Not just

21. Thank You! Fiona Marshall Science and Technology Policy Research
Social
Technological and
Environmental
Pathways to
Sustainability
Thank You!
Fiona Marshall
Science and Technology Policy Research
University of Sussex