Impact of irrigation water quality on human health: A case study in India

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Untreated or partially treated wastewater, which is a negative externality of urban water use, is widely used for irrigation in water scarce regions in several countries including India. While the nutrients contained in the wastewater is considered as beneficial to agriculture, the contaminants present in it pose environmental and health risks. This paper examines the morbidity status, its determinants as well as the cost of illness for households living in the areas irrigated with wastewater in comparison with those using normal quality water. Primary data collected from six villages irrigated with wastewater along Musi River which is fed with wastewater and one control village where normal quality water is used for irrigation has been used for the analysis. It is seen that higher rates of morbidity exist in the wastewater irrigated villages when compared to the control village. Specifically, adult and female morbidity rates are significantly higher than child and male morbidity rates. From the logit analysis it is seen that exposure to wastewater and engagement in activities based on it places the households in higher risk groups to report morbidity. Small and marginal farmers incur higher economic cost of illness. However, it has been difficult to ascertain the cause and effect relationship as most of the households have reported more common illnesses like fever, head ache, skin itching, stomach ailments, etc. The study points out the need for a comprehensive risk assessment and adoption of risk management measures including setting standards for treatment and discharge of wastewater and regulations on the type of uses etc. to prevent unplanned use of untreated or partially treated wastewater while taking into account local conditions.