Irrigation Boots
Footnotes:
[1] I. Navarro et al., “Wastewater Reuse for Irrigation—Practices, Safe Reuse and Perspectives,” in Irrigation and Drainage—Sustainable Strategies and Systems, 2015, 35–54.
[2] U. J. Blumenthal et al., “Guidelines for the Microbiological Quality of Treated Wastewater Used in Agriculture: Recommendations for Revising WHO Guidelines,” Bulletin of the World Health Organization 78, no. 9 (2000): 1104–16.
The public health issues inherent in wastewater agriculture systems have historically been dealt with by government and legislative bodies controlling degrees of removal between humans and the physical sewage stream. Levels of pathogens and heavy metals fall within the range of acceptable (currently, and for a finite time period) in husk crops like maize, milk, and further processed foods. However, for farmers performing field labor and community members, for the most part women, carrying out domestic tasks such as washing clothes in the irrigation channels, exposure to harmful pollutants and pathogens is magnified. [1] The WHO wastewater guidelines have assessed that of the irrigation systems used globally, flood and furrow irrigation with wastewater pose the greatest health risks to farmworkers. [2] Incidentally, these two irrigation systems are those primarily used in Mexico’s Mezquital Valley.
Footnotes:
[1] I. Navarro et al., “Wastewater Reuse for Irrigation—Practices, Safe Reuse and Perspectives,” in Irrigation and Drainage—Sustainable Strategies and Systems, 2015, 35–54.
[2] U. J. Blumenthal et al., “Guidelines for the Microbiological Quality of Treated Wastewater Used in Agriculture: Recommendations for Revising WHO Guidelines,” Bulletin of the World Health Organization 78, no. 9 (2000): 1104–16.
