Farmer driven wastewater treatment: a case study from Faisalabad, Pakistan

The use of wastewater in agriculture provides, besides the obvious risks, also benefits to farmers. This paper presents the case of Faisalabad where farmers used untreated wastewater even though effluent from the local waste stabilization ponds was available. Untreated wastewater had a higher nutrient value and lower salinity as compared to effluent from the WSP and its use resulted in a substantially higher farm income. An approach is therefore proposed in which farmers and wastewater managers enter into dialogue to find mutually beneficial solutions to provide wastewater for agriculture whilst minimizing health risks.