Hussain and others (2002) developed an overview of the potential impacts of using wastewater in agriculture. Selected potential impacts are summarized as follows:
Public health: Wastewater has the potential to cause diseases as it contains bac- teria, viruses and parasites. Also, the inclusion of heavy metals in wastewater can be very dangerous for human health. Wastewater use in agriculture causes risk to the population living within and outside the wastewater irrigation zone
Crops: Wastewater is attractive and economically valuable for farmers because it contains nutrients important for crop growth. However, a high concentration of chemical pollutants in wastewater may be toxic to plants
Soil resources:Accumulation of nitrogen, phosphorus, dissolved solids and other constituents such as heavy metals in the soil affect its productivity and the sus- tainability of land use for agriculture. Salt accumulation in the root zone has pos- sibly harmful impacts on crop yields
Groundwater resources:Leaching of nutrients and salts included in wastewater has the potential to affect the quality of groundwater. The degree of impact depends on several factors, among them quality of groundwater, depth of water table, soil drainage and the amount of wastewater applied for irrigation
Property values:Using wastewater for irrigation may influence the land property values positively or negatively. Low soil productivity due to the use of wastewa- ter in irrigation may negatively affect the land prices and lease revenues. How- ever, the value of wastewater as a source for irrigation may positively affect the value of land
Ecological impacts:Drainage of wastewater from irrigation schemes into water bodies may indirectly affect the aquatic life and negatively influence overall bio- diversity, e.g. the presence of water birds
