Dear all
If you are attending World Water Week please join us in our high level seminar where the CFS HLPE report on Water, Food Security and Nutrition will be presented.
If you have not the possibility to join us in Stockholm you can watch this seminar on the web
More about the event here programme.worldwaterweek.org/event/5064
The weblink to the seminar :
siwi-mediahub.creo.tv/world-water-week/2...curity_and_nutrition

Invitation card

Dear Mughal,

I am glad your are happy about this. Note that we have long had this sub-category here:
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/40-gre...rigation-aquaculture

which is where topics about wastewater reuse and irrigation can be discussed (although admittedly purely irrigation topics with e.g. groundwater and with no links to wastwater were not usually part of this sub-category - but at the end of the day the whole water cycle is all connected, isn't it).

Note we also have a big thread on wastewater irrigation and nutrition here:
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/92-nut...iene-and-agriculture

It's called: "WATSAN-AGRICULTURE: Improving on the Nexus among Water Quality and Quantity, Sanitation, Hygiene, and Agriculture"

I would have put it here in this category, but the person who started the thread said she'd rather have it in the other thread to emphasis the link with health and nutrition.
You might find it interesting if you haven't seen it yet.

Regards,
Elisabeth

Dear Elisabeth,

It is encouraging to see that you are now taking posts on water, agriculture and irrigation.

Regards,

F H Mughal

muench wrote:
When Raul says the concept needs to be "extended beyond agriculture" what does he mean exactly? Also, the article compares the amount of water used for irrigation and the "drinking water" requirements. But is the term drinking water really meant as water for drinking or any type of water used in urban spaces?

I ask this because the amount of water we actually drink is so small (2-3 L per person per day) compared to our other water uses in the urban space, more like 60-200 L per day, depending on your country and wealth and life style... (for personal hygiene, toilet flushing, gardens, parks, industries, ...), and it could also potentially come from different sources; therefore, there may not really be an issue with running out of "drinking water" from too much irrigation in agriculture, is there?

I think the point that Raul is making is that the report talks about governments not prioritising water for food security and nutrition when in fact many governments do prioritise the water for irrigation purposes. He then says that marginalised urban people are not prioritised in terms of water supply because food and water security is always talked about in terms of irrigation rather than in terms of potable water, so urban people end up at the bottom of the priority list.

So given that the SDGs are trying to focus on several aspects a the same time - and as we know the SDG water goals/targets are much more comprehensive than the MDGs which only focused on WASH - then the danger is that the priority will be irrigation rather than potable water delivery.

I don't know if specifically he is talking about the volume or quality of drinking waters available, but as a geographer, I think he is probably talking about the general potential conflicts between water uses in places where there is a limited amount of non-saline water. Of course, everywhere is different, but he is talking from a perspective in Mexico.

This reminds me of a point that Kris made: he basically said, a slightly contaminated household well might not really be a serious problem, provided the households use it for all other uses but not for drinking water (18 July):
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/193-gr...it=12&start=12#14233

He said:

A well that is only lightly contaminated, but the water is actually used for personal hygiene and other domestic purposes, while the drinking water is bought from a more safer source or treated in the household (as quite common here), is in my opinion preferable to one that uncontaminated but rarely used.

So I am just wondering if the term "drinking water" is meant to be understood literally here or rather as "water used for activities by people in urban centres"?

I can ask Raul about this specific point, he is a very approachable guy. I think again he is talking about the risks of people in urban areas losing out as a result of pressures on water supplies due to government political priorities. I know he also believes that there is a lot of scope for wastewaters being reused in agricultural irrigation, so maybe he think that there is a danger if there is a lack of "joined-up thinking" rather than that it is a problem which is impossible to resolve.

Edit: Actually it could also be an English language issue here, as drinking water equates to potable water or " water safe enough for drinking and food preparation" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_water) - still the issue remains with the different quality levels of the water required, i.e. you can use different water quality for irrigation than for use around the home.

Yes, I'm sure that is also true. Again, I think Raul is pointing out (with a big brush) the possibilities of a danger of prioritising "food and water security" without also thinking about how urban poor people are going to get their drinking water.

Thanks, Madeleine for pointing out this report ("Water for Food Security and Nutrition") and for Joe to give us this nice summary in the SciDev blog/website!

I didn't fully understand this part of your article, Joe:

However, conflict between using water for agriculture or for drinking would remain, according to Raul Pacheco-Vega, a geographer at the Centre for Economic Research and Education in Mexico.

He says that the concept of water for food security and nutrition needs to be extended beyond agriculture, as the existing focus on farming could leave urban communities without enough.

And the catchy title was: "Don’t put irrigation above drinking water"

When Raul says the concept needs to be "extended beyond agriculture" what does he mean exactly? Also, the article compares the amount of water used for irrigation and the "drinking water" requirements. But is the term drinking water really meant as water for drinking or any type of water used in urban spaces?

I ask this because the amount of water we actually drink is so small (2-3 L per person per day) compared to our other water uses in the urban space, more like 60-200 L per day, depending on your country and wealth and life style... (for personal hygiene, toilet flushing, gardens, parks, industries, ...), and it could also potentially come from different sources; therefore, there may not really be an issue with running out of "drinking water" from too much irrigation in agriculture, is there?

This reminds me of a point that Kris made: he basically said, a slightly contaminated household well might not really be a serious problem, provided the households use it for all other uses but not for drinking water (18 July):
forum.susana.org/forum/categories/193-gr...it=12&start=12#14233

He said:

A well that is only lightly contaminated, but the water is actually used for personal hygiene and other domestic purposes, while the drinking water is bought from a more safer source or treated in the household (as quite common here), is in my opinion preferable to one that uncontaminated but rarely used.

So I am just wondering if the term "drinking water" is meant to be understood literally here or rather as "water used for activities by people in urban centres"?

Edit: Actually it could also be an English language issue here, as drinking water equates to potable water or " water safe enough for drinking and food preparation" (en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drinking_water) - still the issue remains with the different quality levels of the water required, i.e. you can use different water quality for irrigation than for use around the home.

I wrote about this report for SciDev, in case anyone is interested www.scidev.net/global/water/news/irrigat...hnology-farming.html

On May 15 an important report on Water for Food security and Nutrition by the high-level panel of experts on food security and nutrition (HLPE) was launched at FAO in Rome.
This report propose a number of policy recomendations for different actors; governments, private sector and civil society .This report will be decided upon by the memberstates, civil society and the private sectore at the annual meeting Committee for Global Food Security taking place in Rome in october this year.

This report emphases that safe drinking water and sanitation are fundamental to human development and well being. Yet inadequate access to clean water undermines people’s nutrition and health through water-borne diseases and chronic intestinal infections.”

The importance and value of safe reuse from wastewater for Global Food Security is also emphasized in this report. In other words a very important state of the art document from the Global Food Security community incorporating the importance of Sanitation and reuse. A good read ! Enjoy !
www.fao.org/cfs/cfs-hlpe/en/