Assessment of the Health Impacts of Sewage Water Irrigation on Agricultural Workers

Wastewater can be explored as an alternative water resource for irrigation in arid and semi-arid areas. In addition to conserving surface and subsurface water resources, the safe use of treated sewage water can increase crop yields. Despite numerous studies on wastewater irrigation, relatively limited research has been undertaken on the health impacts of wastewater irrigation on agricultural workers was undertaken. Many regions lack robust health monitoring systems for agricultural workers, making it difficult to assess the long-term health impacts of wastewater exposure. There is an urgent need to explore impacts of wastewater irrigation on farmworkers’ health. It is of an utmost importance to consider advantages as well as the risks of wastewater irrigation to public health and the environment. With this objective, experiments focusing on sewage water reuse for the irrigation of Wheat and Green gram crops were conducted at the Campus of Nirma University, Ahmedabad. The study design took into account several treatments based on the use of sewage water, groundwater, and surface water in various blending ratios. The design of the studies also takes into account different treatments based on the application of nitrogenous fertilizer to soils. A total of three replications were performed for all experiments for wheat & green gram crops. The methodology involves assessing the health impacts on agricultural workers as a result of their exposure to pathogens associated with wastewater. The impacts on public health under said treatments are analyzed and discussed in the paper. Lead levels, Total Bilirubin, Conjugated Bilirubin, Unconjugated Bilirubin, SGPT, Polymorphs, Lymphocytes, Eosinophils, Monocytes and Basophils were found to be within the normal range in agricultural workers associated with sewage water irrigation for wheat and green gram crops.