Africa Water, Sanitation & Hygiene Africa Water & Sanitation & Hygiene Nov-Dec 2017 | Page 4

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Wastewater characteristics and effluent quality parameters
In many arid and semi-arid countries water is becoming an increasingly scarce resource and planners are
forced to consider any sources of water which might be used economically and effectively to promote
further development. At the same time, with population expanding at a high rate, the need for increased
food production is apparent. The potential for irrigation to raise both agricultural productivity and the living
standards of the rural poor has long been recognized. Irrigated agriculture occupies approximately 17 percent
of the world’s total arable land but the production from this land comprises about 34 percent of the world
total. This potential is even more pronounced in arid areas, such as the Near East Region, where only 30
percent of the cultivated area is irrigated but it produces about 75 percent of the total agricultural production.
In this same region, more than 50 percent of the food requirements are imported and the rate of increase in
demand for food exceeds the rate of increase in agricultural production.
Whenever good quality water is scarc