Study on A'bad urban farming finds average E. coli concentrations in irrigation water is high than int'l standards
A study has found that a large portion of Ahmedabad's farming population relies on water unsuitable for irrigation, which has had significant adverse health effects on them.
The year long study covered 187 households from four communities that used surface water, groundwater and wastewater for irrigation. Apart from getting reports about the health of the households, the study also analysed the water samples for E.coli and found that in all the three water sources, the average E-coli numbers per 100 ml exceeded the international irrigation water standard. The study also found a positive correlation between irrigation water quality and incidence of diarrhea.
The study found that the incidence of diarrhea in areas that used groundwater (7.92 episodes/1000 person-week) was lesser than those that used wastewater (13.1 episodes) and surface water (13.4 episode). Overall, the incidence of diarrhea in the study sample was 11.5 episodes/1,000 person-weeks.
Based on the microbiological assessment, the average E. coli concentrations of the three study groups rendered all sources unsuitable for irrigation, the study said.
The study 'Impact of wastewater-irrigated urban agriculture on diarrhea incidence in Ahmedabad', published in the Indian Journal of Community Medicine, was conducted by Timo Falkenberg of the Center for Development Research, Institute for Hygiene and Public Health, Germany and Deepak Saxena, Department of Epidemiology, Indian Institute of Public Health, Gandhinagar.
"The microbiological analysis has shown that both surface and wastewater are not suitable for irrigation in Ahmedabad and that reliance on contaminated irrigation water induces direct adverse effects on the health of those households engaged in agriculture," said the study. It has also called for an urgent need to introduce the concept of urban agriculture to the local civic authorities.
Rohit Prajapati, an environmentalist, who has waged several battles with the government and industries over water pollution isn't surprised with the findings. "It is not just diarrhea. Farmers who use wastewater, effluent water and contaminated groundwater suffer from a host of illness. Diarrhea is just one of them."
He, however, said any move to use wastewater for agriculture should keep in mind that the type of waste being generated is far more hazardous. "It is alright to say that waste water can be used for agriculture after treatment but the fact is that the type of wastewater generated these days is very different and our treatment plants are over two decades old and unable to handle the sort of contamination," said Prajapati. He, however, said the waste water in rural areas may still be usable for agriculture after proper treatment.
FINDINGS
- The year long study covered 187 households from four communities that used surface water, groundwater and wastewater for irrigation
- Apart from getting reports about the health of the households, the study also analysed the water samples for E.coli
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