Wastewater use in urban agriculture : assessing current research and options for national and local governments

This report explores the link between urban agriculture and wastewater use based on existing literature and applied research. Section 1 and 2 provide a general discussion of urbanization, food insecurity, the use of urban spaces for food production, water scarcity and the challenges in providing urban water and sanitation services. Section 3 offers a detailed discussion of existing research linking urban agriculture with wastewater use. Section 4 concentrates on the benefits of wastewater use in alleviating poverty. In section 5, an overview of water/wastewater management and governance is presented. Decentralization and local level water management are also discussed. Section 6 looks at some alternative arrangements and identifies the roles to be played by various key stakeholders. Alternative technical options are presented based on recent IDRC experiences. These include both low-cost wastewater treatment options useful at the household and community level. Non-treatment options, for situations where treatment is not feasible, are also reviewed.