REVIEW article
Front. Sustain. Food Syst.
Sec. Water-Smart Food Production
Treated Wastewater Irrigation: Unlocking Sustainability in Agriculture and Food Security—A Comprehensive Review
Provisionally accepted
Faisal Hayat1*
Wasef Al-Zayadneh1
Ummara Khan2
Sumeera Asghar3Tehreem Rehman4Karthishwaran Kandhan1Mohammed Alyafei1- 1United Arab Emirates University, Al-Ain, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
- 2Nanjing Agricultural University, Nanjing, Jiangsu Province, China
- 3Guizhou University, Guiyang, Guizhou Province, China
- 4Department of Biology, Government Associate College (W), 36 SB, Sargodha, Sargodha, Pakistan
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Water scarcity caused by high population growth and climatic change has been a significant challenge particularly in arid regions. The current review explores the promise of treated wastewater (TWW) as a water source alternative in agriculture with a view to offering alternative solution to the strain on freshwater resources and improving environment sustainability. Moreover, TWW has been shown to enhance soil fertility, enhance crop growth and reduce their dependence on chemical fertilizers by substituting essential nutrients such as nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K). Moreover, it improves efficiency in terms of water usage and contributes to increasing crop production, with which positive effects can be observed in various crops. Nevertheless, there are some issues that are associated with the application of TWW in agriculture, such as social perception, lack of infrastructure, and the fear of contaminants like heavy metals, pathogens, and microplastics, which can be deposited in soil and enter the food chain. The review explains that effective treatment technologies are necessary to ensure that TWW can be safely used in agriculture, given that the avoidance of environmental risks should take importance, as well as the safety of the population. Another important point brought out in this review is the increasing use of TWW worldwide especially in the water-stressed regions in the world where it has proven to be a significant solution for alleviating water scarcity.
Keywords: Food security, Nutrient recycling, Plant Growth, sustainable agriculture, Treated wastewater, water scarcity
Received: 17 Mar 2025; Accepted: 29 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Hayat, Al-Zayadneh, Khan, Asghar, Rehman, Kandhan and Alyafei. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Faisal Hayat
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