Wastewater is increasingly being used by farmers in developing countries. This use is mainly motivated by: (a) the increasing scarcity of water resources and the increasing tensions on these resources; (b) population growth and the resulting increase in food demand. These waters pose significant health risks when integrated with water sources used for irrigation. At this level, this work has targeted one of the largest known areas of wastewater reuse for irrigation in Morocco (Meknes, Khemisset area), and has set as its objective to know farmers' perception (knowledge, attitudes, and practices) of this phenomenon, using a questionnaire. The results of this study clearly show that farmers have a negative perception towards the reuse of wastewater for irrigation.
The informal nature, the high level of illiteracy and the lack of training and awareness-raising programmes on good farming and farm safety practices could justify the negative perception of farmers who are not aware of the health risks to which this phenomenon is exposed. In addition, the majority of them using wastewater for irrigation come from a low socio-economic environment where poverty and high vulnerability prevail.
Water supply for agriculture is sometimes insufficient in several regions of Morocco, the reuse of untreated wastewater in irrigation poses serious risks to the health of the population with spread of cases of waterborne diseases; At this level, the present study has set the initial objective of describing the epidemiological profile of these cases (patient characteristics) and then determining the causal links between the emergence of waterborne diseases and the characteristics of the population. The survey targeted the cities of Meknes and Khemisset (cities with one of the largest perimeters of reuse of raw wastewater in Morocco) during 2015, 2016 and 2017; The methodology adopted is to use the socio-economic data recorded on the "mandatory declaration" sheets for each patient who has acquired a waterborne disease, then to better exploit the qualitaitive data obtained from the survey sheets, we have descriptive statistics (using Excel software) and analytical statistics by calculating the Chi 2 test (using SPSS software version 21) to facilitate interpretation. The study of the profile of the patients who contracted a water-related disease at the level of the study area revealed: (a) characteristics in favor of a socio-economic vulnerability of this population; this vulnerability results in a supply of fruits / vegetables during the weekly Souks, and informal urban markets; (b) a negative perception of the population towards wastewater and its risks to the health of individuals; (c) a significant association has been found between the occurrence of waterborne diseases and schooling.