The waste water from food processing contains dissolved salts and organic matter. The amount of each depends upon the product being processed and the procedure being used. The suitability for irrigation of food processing waste water from 20 plants processing nine food products was assessed from the standpoint of electrical conductivity (EC), chloride and sodium concentrations, sodium-adsorption-ratio (SAR), and chemical oxygen demand (COD). Waste water from plants processing green beans (Phaseolus vulgaris L.), squash (Cucurbita pepo var. melopepo Alef.), tomatoes (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.), corn (Zea mays L.), steam peeled potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) and sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas Lam.), and poultry is suitable for irrigation under most conditions. Waste water from some pea (Pisum sativum L.) and lima beans (Phaseolus lunatus L.) processing plants may be suitable for irrigation, but is of questionable suitability from others. Waste water from lye-peel potato processing is not suitable for irrigation.

Current patterns of agricultural expansion and intensification are bringing unprecedented environmental externalities, including impacts on water quality. While water pollution is slowly starting to receive the attention it deserves, the contribution of agriculture to this problem has not yet received sufficient consideration.We need a much better understanding of the causes and effects of agricultural water pollution as well as effective means to prevent and remedy the problem. In the existing literature, information on water pollution from agriculture is highly dispersed. This repost is a comprehensive review and covers different agricultural sectors (including crops, livestock and aquaculture), and examines the drivers of water pollution in these sectors as well as the resulting pressures and changes in water bodies, the associated impacts on human health and the environment, and the responses needed to prevent pollution and mitigate its risks.

Current patterns of agricultural expansion and intensification are bringing unprecedented environmental externalities, including impacts on water quality. While water pollution is slowly starting to receive the attention it deserves, the contribution of agriculture to this problem has not yet received sufficient consideration. We need a much better understanding of the causes and effects of agricultural water pollution as well as effective means to prevent and remedy the problem. In the existing literature, information on water pollution from agriculture is highly dispersed. This repost is a comprehensive review and covers different agricultural sectors (including crops, livestock and aquaculture), and examines the drivers of water pollution in these sectors as well as the resulting pressures and changes in water bodies, the associated impacts on human health and the environment, and the responses needed to prevent pollution and mitigate its risks.

In this work, an experimental study was done in an autoclave reactor to evaluate the gasification characteristics of food waste in supercritical water. The effects of reaction temperature (550–700 °C), residence time (0–30 min), feedstock concentration (5 wt%-9 wt.%), catalyst type (K₂CO₃, Na₂CO₃, and Raney-Ni), and catalyst loading (Catalyst/dry feedstock 0.5–2) on gas production and liquid products were investigated. The results indicated that higher reaction temperature and longer residence time positively promoted food waste gasification. The organic compound species in liquid products decreased quickly to form gas products with the increased temperature, and the aromatic compounds were the key organic matter for the complete gasification of food waste. The addition of catalysts could significantly convert more liquid intermediates into gaseous products, and improve the gasification performance of food waste. The catalytic performance of catalysts can be ranked as K₂CO₃> Raney-Ni > Na₂CO₃. H₂ yield and carbon gasification efficiency increased with the increase of K₂CO₃ loading, reaching the highest values of 38.29 mol kg⁻¹ and 95.84% with the addition of 14 wt% K₂CO₃, respectively. This work indicated that food waste could be well treated and utilized as an energy resource to produce H₂ by SCWG technology.

This work presents a proposal for the recovery of water through the treatment of food industry wastewater using membrane processes. Three wastewater streams from the different manufacturing steps were identified as possible sources of water recovery: (1) wastewater from the washing of ionic exchange resins and (2) wastewater from the concentration stage of animal proteins (type 1 and 2). The wastewater streams were treated as effluent mixtures; each one with different level of pollution. The principal characteristics of the effluent mixtures were identified as high conductivity and the presence of organic matter. Under these conditions, ultrafiltration and reverse osmosis were carried out for the treatment of wastewater. The ultrafiltration process was tested at an industrial-level plant and the reverse osmosis process was applied at a pilot-plant level. The results showed the feasibility of the proposed treatment for water recovery. The data demonstrates an efficiency greater than 95% in all the quality parameters and therefore, a high quality in the recovered water was obtained by membrane processes. According to the chemical composition of wastewater, the reversible fouling was linked to salts and protein retention, promoting the formation of a cake layer as reversible resistance; whereas, irreversible fouling was minimum during wastewater treatment.

Rapid urban growth in sub-Saharan Africa challenges food supply of cities. As food and other organic matter are transported from production areas to consumption points, water, which has been used for their production, is transported virtually. This study aimed at determining the magnitude and sources of virtual water flows in food trade of two West African cities, in order to better assess food provisioning risks and water resource use and planning. To this end, flows of unprocessed food from local, regional, national and international sources were systematically recorded at all roads leading to Tamale, Ghana and Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The survey was conducted within two years covering the peak (November - December) and lean season (March - April), respectively, for six days in a row. Virtual water flows were computed by multiplying the flow quantities (t yr-1) by their respective virtual water contents (m3 t-1). Results showed that virtual water of all food commodities imported to Tamale and Ouagadougou were 514 and 2105 million m3 yr-1 respectively, out of which 68% and 40% were re-exported to other regions of the country. The data also showed major seasonal variation in virtual water flows across the year. Reflecting their dominating role in local diets, cereals contributed most to the total virtual water inflows in both cities. Southern Ghana is the major net virtual water importer from Tamale through cereals, legumes, vegetables, and livestock. The Northern Region of Ghana, on the other hand, is a net exporter of virtual water in all food groups apart from fruits. In Ouagadougou, large flows of virtual water were imported in cereals, specifically rice from Asian countries, via Ivory Coast.

Rapid urban growth in sub-Saharan Africa challenges food supply of cities. As food and other organic matter are transported from production areas to consumption points, water, which has been used for their production, is transported virtually. This study aimed at determining the magnitude and sources of virtual water flows in food trade of two West African cities, in order to better assess food provisioning risks and water resource use and planning. To this end, flows of unprocessed food from local, regional, national and international sources were systematically recorded at all roads leading to Tamale, Ghana and Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The survey was conducted within two years covering the peak (November - December) and lean season (March - April), respectively, for six days in a row. Virtual water flows were computed by multiplying the flow quantities (t yr-1) by their respective virtual water contents (m3 t-1). Results showed that virtual water of all food commodities imported to Tamale and Ouagadougou were 514 and 2105 million m3 yr-1 respectively, out of which 68% and 40% were re-exported to other regions of the country. The data also showed major seasonal variation in virtual water flows across the year. Reflecting their dominating role in local diets, cereals contributed most to the total virtual water inflows in both cities. Southern Ghana is the major net virtual water importer from Tamale through cereals, legumes, vegetables, and livestock. The Northern Region of Ghana, on the other hand, is a net exporter of virtual water in all food groups apart from fruits. In Ouagadougou, large flows of virtual water were imported in cereals, specifically rice from Asian countries, via Ivory Coast.

Rapid urban growth in sub-Saharan Africa challenges food supply of cities. As food and other organic matter are transported from production areas to consumption points, water, which has been used for their production, is transported virtually. This study aimed at determining the magnitude and sources of virtual water flows in food trade of two West African cities, in order to better assess food provisioning risks and water resource use and planning. To this end, flows of unprocessed food from local, regional, national and international sources were systematically recorded at all roads leading to Tamale, Ghana and Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. The survey was conducted within two years covering the peak (November - December) and lean season (March - April), respectively, for six days in a row. Virtual water flows were computed by multiplying the flow quantities (t yr⁻¹) by their respective virtual water contents (m³ t⁻¹). Results showed that virtual water of all food commodities imported to Tamale and Ouagadougou were 514 and 2105 million m³ yr⁻¹ respectively, out of which 68% and 40% were re-exported to other regions of the country. The data also showed major seasonal variation in virtual water flows across the year. Reflecting their dominating role in local diets, cereals contributed most to the total virtual water inflows in both cities. Southern Ghana is the major net virtual water importer from Tamale through cereals, legumes, vegetables, and livestock. The Northern Region of Ghana, on the other hand, is a net exporter of virtual water in all food groups apart from fruits. In Ouagadougou, large flows of virtual water were imported in cereals, specifically rice from Asian countries, via Ivory Coast.

Bryophytes are abundant in streams and are a habitat for many invertebrates, but their contribution to the diet of fluvial zoobenthos is still debated. To estimate the amount of bryophyte-derived organic matter assimilated by benthic invertebrates, we used a combination of fatty acid and stable isotope analyses during a four-year monthly study of a littoral site in the Yenisei River (Siberia, Russia). Acetylenic acids, which are highly specific biomarkers of the water moss Fontinalis antipyretica, were found in lipids of all dominant benthic animals: gammarids, ephemeropterans, chironomids and trichopterans. The dominant zoobenthic species, Eulimnogammarus viridis, had maximum levels of the biomarkers in its biomass during winter, and minimum levels in summer. The zoobenthos in the studied site regularly consume and assimilate bryophyte-derived organic matter as a minor supplemental food. This consumption increases in winter, when the main food source of the zoobenthos, epilithic biofilms, are probably scarce.

We investigated food supply mechanisms to a cold-water coral (CWC) reef at 260 m depth on the Norwegian continental shelf using data from a cabled ocean observatory equipped with Acoustic Doppler Current Profilers (ADCPs), an echosounder, and sensors for chlorophyll, turbidity and hydrography in the benthic boundary layer (BBL). Tidal currents of up to tens of cm s−1 dominated BBL hydrodynamics while residual currents were weak (∼10 cm s−1), emphasizing a supply and high retention of locally produced phytodetritus within the trough. A direct connection between the reefs and surface organic matter (OM) was established by turbulent mixing and passive particle settling, but relative contributions varied seasonally. Fresh OM from a spring-bloom was quickly mixed into the BBL, but temperature stratification in summer reduced the surface-to-bottom connectivity and reduced the phytodetritus supply. A qualitative comparison among acoustic backscatter in the ADCPs (600 kHz, 190 kHz) and echosounder (70 kHz) suggests that vertically migrating zooplankton may present an alternative food source in summer. Nocturnal feeding by zooplankton in the upper water column sustains downward OM transport independent from water column mixing and may dominate as food supply pathway over sedimentation of the phytodetritus, especially during stratified conditions. In addition, it could present a concentrating mechanism for nutritional components as compensation for the deteriorating phytodetritus quality. Overall, the observed patterns suggest seasonal changes in the food supply pathways to the reef communities. The moderating role of temperature stratification in phytodetritus transport suggests stronger dependence of the cold-water corals on zooplankton for their dietary requirements with increased stratification under future climate scenarios. This study demonstrates the added value of permanent ocean observatories to research based on dedicated campaigns and regular monitoring.