Abstract
This work is a trans-disciplinary undertaking aiming at innovative water management in arid and semi-arid regions. Based on field studies on soil bacterial communities and irrigation water quality in an arid region of China where wastewater has been used for agricultural production decade long, this paper is intended to propose an integrative management scheme combining wastewater reuse in agriculture, wise use of wetlands and fertilizer management as an engine toward achieving sustainable development in arid and semi-arid regions. This study was also designed to address a key but very much neglected question about wastewater reuse in irrigation: does wastewater irrigation lead to reduction of chemical fertilizer use and increase of crop yield? Through a questionnaire, it revealed that there was a misperception among farmers about wastewater, which led to no-reduction or even increase in fertilizer use with wastewater irrigation as compared with river water irrigation. It also showed that crop yield was not increased with wastewater irrigation under the current practice. Besides, it sheds some light on an underreported health concern.
Highlights
Arid lands may be defined as regions where evaporation exceeds precipitation
This study was designed to address a key but very much neglected question about wastewater reuse in irrigation: does wastewater irrigation lead to reduction of chemical fertilizer use and increase of crop yield? Through a questionnaire, it revealed that there was a misperception among farmers about wastewater, which led to no-reduction or even increase in fertilizer use with wastewater irrigation as compared with river water irrigation
The annual water demand for maintaining. This cross-disciplinary study revealed that the current practice of wastewater irrigation in the study area did not lead to reduction of chemical fertilizer use, which might be attributable to a combination of soil bacterial and social factors
Summary
Arid lands may be defined as regions where evaporation exceeds precipitation. Three arid zones can be delineated according to this definition: namely, hyper-arid, arid and semi-arid. Of the total land area of the world, the hyper-. Almost one-third of the total area of the world is arid land. In spite of water scarcity, there is a long history of agricultural development in arid regions across the world. In China, arid and semi-arid regions occupy a vast land in north-western China accounting for one-quarter of the Chinese territory in which agriculture has flourished under such a climate. In the dry Minqin county in the lower reaches of the Shiyang River, cultivated land increased by an area of 27.5 × 103 ha between 1987 and 2001. The output of grain production in Gansu Province, where the annual precipitation was less than 300 mm, increased by more than 40% during the period of 2003-2012
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