The Economic Value of Improved Wastewater Irrigation: A Contingent Valuation Study in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

The volume of Treated Wastewater (TW) produced in Oman is increasing, due to increased connection of houses to the sewage network and increased construction of wastewater treatment plants. Despite 68% of the TW been used for irrigating urban landscapes, 10.3 Mm3 TW has been discharged to the sea in 2014. Wastewater treatment plants are owned and operated by private companies, which aspire to sell excess TW, particularly to farmers, in order to recover cost of wastewater treatment. This paper has used the Contingent Valuation Method (CVM) to estimate the farmers’ Willingness to Pay (WTP) for TW for farm irrigation. Seventy two farmers responded to a face-to face interview on eliciting WTP to purchase TW as irrigation water, out of a total population of 400 farmers in Seeb region who have farms in proximity to a wastewater treatment plant. The results indicated that farmers’ WTP for TW was on average 0.111 OR/m3. WTP for TW was significantly affected by the income of farmers and whether the farm is a market oriented or non-market hobby oriented farm. The percentage of farmers willing to pay the average price or higher was 38%. Most farmers are not willing to pay the price currently charged by the wastewater treatment company for landscaping irrigation (0.220 OR/m3) given the large volumes required for farm irrigation. Even rich farmers maintaining hobby farms are willing to pay only 0.128 OR/m3 versus 0.087 OR/m3 by the market oriented farmers. The WTP for TW is higher than the prices reported (OR 0.005 to 0.023 OR/ m3) for groundwater used in agriculture in Oman. .

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Parasitological Contamination of Wastewater Irrigated and Raw Manure Fertilized Vegetables in Mekelle City and Its Suburb, Tigray, Ethiopia

Tomass¹,

Kidane²

2012

mejs

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Watering of vegetables in developing countries including Ethiopia is done using untreated wastewater and raw manure of domestic animal origin is used as fertilizer. Thus, vegetables are considered to be the principal sources of human infection with bacterial, protozoan and helminth parasites. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the rate of parasitological contamination of pre-harvest vegetables in Mekelle city and its suburban village, 'Mariam Dahan'. Pre-harvest vegetables were collected from the field during the dry season, washed using physiological saline solution, allowed to sediment overnight, centrifuged and examined microscopically for infective stages of intestinal parasites. Out of the vegetable samples examined, 32.41% in Mekelle city and 30.49% in 'Mariam Dahan', contained at least one parasitic contaminant. Strongyloides stercoralis was most encountered parasitic contaminant in the study areas, followed by, Taenia and Entamoeba spp. Highest rate of parasitic contamination was detected on Swiss chard, that was 45.5 and 41.67% in Mekelle city and 'Mariam Dahan', respectively. Occurrence of infective stages of intestinal parasites on wastewater-irrigated vegetables may pose public health hazards to farming communities in the study areas. Therefore, evaluation and surveillance of parasitological quality of vegetables is crucial in an attempt to control vegetable-transmitted parasitic infections.

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The Economic Value of Improved Wastewater Irrigation: A Contingent Valuation Study in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Cited by 8 publications

References 22 publications

Households Willingness to Pay for Improved Urban Solid Waste Management: the Case of Mekelle City, Ethiopia

Households Willingness to Pay for Improved Urban Solid Waste Management: the Case of Mekelle City, Ethiopia

An estimate of the willingness to pay for treated wastewater for irrigation in Oman

Parasitological Contamination of Wastewater Irrigated and Raw Manure Fertilized Vegetables in Mekelle City and Its Suburb, Tigray, Ethiopia

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