Facing water shortages and escalating fertilizer costs, fanners in developing countries are using raw sewage (下水道污水）to irrigate and fertilize nearly 49 million acres of cropland, according to a new report—and it may not be a bad thing.
根据一份最新报告表明，由于水资源短缺和肥料成本不断上涨，发展中国家的农民正在使用未经处理的下水道污水对近4900万英亩农田进行灌溉和施肥，这或许并不是一件坏事。
While the practice carries serious health risks for many, those dangers are outweighed by the social and economic gains for poor urban farmers and consumers who need affordable food.
虽然这种做法给大多数人带来了严重的健康隐患，但这些威胁远不及该做法为城市贫困农民和需要低价食物的消费者所创造的社会和经济效益。
"There is a large potential for wastewater agriculture to both help and hurt great numbers of urban consumers," said Liqa Raschid-Sally, who led the study.
污水农业给大量城市消费者既带来帮助，又带来伤害的可能性很大。领导该项研究的理查德拉希德莎莉说道。
The report focused on poor urban areas, where farms in or near cities supply relatively inexpensive food.
这项报告聚焦于贫困的城市地区，在这些地区内或附近的农田能够提供价格相对低廉的农产品。
Most of these operations draw irrigation water from local rivers or lakes. Unlike developed cities, however, these areas lack advanced water-treatment facilities, and rivers effectively become sewers (下水道).
而这些农田的灌溉主要是从当地的河流或湖泊中饮水。不过与发达城市不同，由于缺乏先进的污水处理设施，这些地区的河流实际上已变成了下水道。
When this water is used for agricultural irrigation, farmers risk absorbing disease-causing bacteria, as do consumers who eat the produce raw and unwashed.
当这些水用于农业灌溉时，农民的健康就会受到致病细菌的威胁，消费者食用生的且未经清洗的农产品，也会面临同样的问题。
Nearly 2.2 million people die each year because of diarrhea-related (与腹泻相关的) diseases, according to WHO statistics. More than 80% of those cases can be attributed to contact with contaminated water and a lack of proper sanitation.
据世界卫生组织统计，每年有近220万人死于与腹泻相关的疾病。其中超过80%的病例可归因于接触受污染的水源和缺乏良好的卫生设施。
But Pay Drechsel, an environmental scientist, argues that the social and economic benefits of using untreated human waste to grow food outweigh the health risks.
但是环境科学家佩德雷认为使用未经处理的人类排泄物种植农产品所带来的社会和经济效益大于因其引发的健康威胁。
Those dangers can be addressed with farmer and consumer education, he said, while the free water and nutrients from human waste can help urban farmers in developing countries to escape poverty.
他说道，我们可以通过对农民和消费者进行教育来消除那些威胁，同时免费的水源和人类粪便中的营养物质，能够帮助发展中国家的农民摆脱贫困。
Agriculture is a water-intensive business, accounting for nearly 70% of global fresh water consumption.
农业是一个耗水量较大的行业，约占全球淡水消耗量的70%。
In poor, dry regions, untreated wastewater is the only viable irrigation source to keep fanners in business. In some cases, water is so scarce that farmers break open sewage pipes transporting waste to local rivers.
在贫困干旱的地区，未经处理的废水是农民维持农耕唯一可用的灌溉资源。在某些情况下水资源非常短缺，以至于农民会召开输送废水到当地河流的下水管。
Irrigation is the primary agricultural use of human waste in the developing world. But frequently untreated human waste harvested from lavatories is delivered to farms and spread as fertilizer.
在发展中国家，灌溉是人类排泄物的主要农业用途，但是人们常常把从厕所里获取未经处理的人类排泄物当作肥料撒在农田里。
In most cases, the human waste is used on grain crops, which are eventually cooked, minimizing the risk of transmitting water-borne diseases.
在大多数情况下，人类排泄物会用作粮食作物的肥料，这些粮食作物最终会被烹饪，从而减少水源性疾病传播的风险。
With fertilizer prices jumping nearly 50% per metric ton over the last year in some places, human waste is an attractive, and often necessary, alternative.
去年一些地方的肥料价格每公吨上涨了50%，人类排泄物随即成为了一种吸引人的且通常必不可少的替代品。
In cases where sewage mud is used, expensive chemical fertilizer use can be avoided. The mud contains the same critical nutrients.
再用下水道污泥施肥的情况下，可以避免使用昂贵的化学肥料，污泥中含有铜等重要的营养物质。
"Overly strict standards often fail," James Bartram, a WHO water-health expert, said. "We need to accept that fact across much of the planet, so waste with little or no treatment will be used in agriculture for good reason."
世界卫生组织水健康专家詹姆斯巴特拉姆说，过于严格的标准往往会失效，我们需要接受一个事实，在这个世界上有很多的地方，将这样很少或未经处理的废水用于农业是有缘由的。
- What does the author say about the use of raw sewage for farming?
A. Its risks cannot be overestimated.
B. It should be forbidden altogether.
C. Its benefits outweigh the hazards involved.
D. It is polluting millions of acres of cropland. - What is the main problem caused by the use of wastewater for irrigation?
A. Rivers and lakes nearby will gradually become contaminated.
B. It will drive producers of chemical fertilizers out of business.
C. Farmers and consumers may be affected by harmful bacteria.
D. It will make the farm produce less competitive on the market. - What is environmental scientist Pay Drechsel's attitude towards the use of untreated human waste in agriculture?
A. Favorable.
B. Skeptical.
C. Indifferent.
D. Responsible. - What does Pay Drechsel think of the risks involved in using untreated human waste for farming?
A. They have been somewhat exaggerated.
B. They can be dealt with through education.
C. They will be minimized with new technology.
D. They can be addressed by improved sanitation. - What do we learn about James Bartram's position on the use of human waste for farming?
A. He echoes Pay Drechsel's opinion on the issue.
B. He challenges Liqa Raschid-Sally's conclusion.
C. He thinks it the only way out of the current food crisis.
D. He deems it indispensable for combating global poverty.
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