Why WASPA?

Wastewater Agriculture and Sanitation for Poverty Alleviation

The Urban Situation

Rising urban population growth trends and increasing water consumption, has resulted in large volumes of untreated wastewater. This is of concern to the WASH[1] sector agencies in secondary cities and towns. On the other hand poor urban farmers use this wastewater as a very welcome source of water and nutrients for agriculture and make a living out of it. The unregulated use of wastewater poses serious risks to human health and the environment. Whilst many countries have regulations governing wastewater use these regulations are hardly applied or enforced.

Research Gaps

The research community has been relatively successful in mapping the extent of urban agriculture in the South using wastewater, and in doing research on the agricultural and health aspects. However, several areas have been insufficiently researched such as:

·effective decentralised wastewater collection and treatment technologies,

·urban wastewater management policies,

·strategic planning for local action in sanitation,

·pro-poor approaches for sanitation, wastewater management and productive use, and

·wastewater disposal and regulation. Another common weakness is the sharing of research findings and packaging information, for planning and implementation.

The Challenge: Search for Innovative Approaches

Local authorities need to recognise the great potential wastewater has for generating livelihoods for the urban poor. In the rapidly growing peri-urban areas of the secondary towns, wastewater disposal is a serious problem they face. Innovative ways of planning sanitation and wastewater management for agricultural end-use particularly in arid and semi-arid environments can help overcome this problem. Town and city planning, health and agriculture authorities will have to link hands with poor farmers and urban dwellers for successful implementation of new WASH approaches combined with improved wastewater agriculture practices.

Affordable and Sustainable Wastewater Technologies

WASPA will focus on decentralised wastewater management approaches for peri-urban neighbourhoods in secondary cities and towns, which are environmentally sound and sustainable in terms of investment, operation and maintenance. WASPA will encourage and link up with organisations and projects developing wastewater treatment technologies that reduce the health risks from pathogens, and other pollutants commonly found in domestic wastewater while maintaining the maximum level of valuable nutrients for crops.

Effective Participatory Planning for Wastewater and its Utilisation

Neither imposing bans on its use nor ignoring the problem can resolve it. Municipal policy-makers and planners need to confront the reality and face the challenges in innovative ways. Therefore, WASPA will advocate and assist local governments to develop implementable policies, strategies, approaches and regulation for wastewater collection, treatment and use in urban agriculture in participatory mode. WASPA will work in partnership making use of own and others’ research findings.

Reaching the Target Groups through Information Sharing and Capacity Building

Municipal policy-makers, planners and practitioners in related areas, and farmer associations demand different types of information. WASPA will improve knowledge sharing by packaging information to suit the needs of these stakeholders and making it available through multiple media. Learning Alliances for local capacity building will be another mechanism to move results from action research and demonstration projects to implementable strategies and practical actions for local governments.

[1] WASH = Water, Sanitation and Hygiene sector