An economic framework for adaptive wastewater reuse for future crop production sustainability

Without acceptance of adapting our current crop production systems to use reclaimed water as opposed to freshwater, the quality of life that we currently accept as normal will not be sustainable. Irrigation is one of the major consumers of freshwater around the world. If municipalities were to recycle their wastewater and reuse it for irrigation rather than use fresh water for those crops, then that same volume of freshwater is available for public use and direct consumption in the future. Reuse of our wastewater, the water resource that is increasing as other sources are decreasing, is a necessity to maintain an adaptable and thus sustainable future in terms of food, feed, and fiber production and reduced energy consumption. For reuse to be possible several economic factors need to be explored such as: the benefits and cost related valuations of the local, regional, and state. These valuations fall under both tangible and intangible valuations. The tangible valuations will require work with water experts, this paper will concentrate on developing a framework for estimating the intangible economic parameters to determine the economic feasibility of establishing a system for using treated effluent for crops.