Abstract—A pilot field study was conducted at the Jagjeetpur Municipal Sewage treatment plant situated in the Haridwar town in Uttarakhand state, India. The objectives of the present study were to study the effect of treated wastewater on the production of various paddy varieties (Sharbati, PR-114, PB-1, Menaka, PB1121 and PB 1509) and the emission of GHG gases (CO 2, CH 4 and N 2 O) as compared to the same varieties grown in the control plots irrigated with fresh water. Of late, the concept of water footprint assessment has emerged, which explains enumeration of various types of water footprints of an agricultural entity from its production to processing stages. Paddy, the most water demanding staple crop of Uttarakhand state, displayed a high green water footprint value of 2474.12 m 3 / Ton. Most of the wastewater irrigated varieties displayed up to 6% increase in production, except Menaka and PB-1121, which showed a reduction in production (6% and 3% respectively), due to pest and insect infestation. The treated wastewater was observed to be rich in Nitrogen (55.94 mg/ml Nitrate), Phosphorus (54.24 mg/ml) and Potassium (9.78 mg/ml), thus rejuvenating the soil quality and not requiring any external nutritional supplements. A Percentage increase of GHG gases of irrigation with treated municipal wastewater as compared to control plots was observed as 0.4% - 8.6% (CH 4 ), 1.1% - 9.2% (CO 2 ), and 0.07% - 5.8% (N 2 O). The variety, Sharbati, displayed maximum production (5.5 ton/ha) and emerged as the most resistant variety against pests and insects. The emission values of CH 4, CO 2 and N 2 O were 729.31 mg/m 2 /d, 322.10 mg/m 2 /d and 400.21 mg/m 2 /d in water stagnant condition. This study highlighted a successful possibility of reuse of wastewater for non-potable purposes offering the potential for exploiting this resource that can replace or reduce the existing use of fresh water sources in agriculture sector. Keywords—Greenhouse gases, nutrients, water footprint, wastewater irrigation. I. INTRODUCTION RESH water is a scarce resource that is essential for humans and ecosystems, but its distribution is uneven. Agricultural production accounts for 70% of all surface water supplies. It is projected that against the expansion in the area equipped for irrigation by 0.6% per year, the global potential irrigation water demand would rise by 9.5% during 2021-25 [1]. This would, on one hand, have to compete against the sharply rising urban water demand. On the other, it would also have to face the fear of climate change, as temperatures rise, Reshu Yadav is with the Department of Water Resources Development and Management, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee- 247667, Uttarakhand , India (e-mail: reshudwt@iitr.ac.in). Himanshu Joshi, is with Department of Hydrology, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee -247667,Uttarakhand , India (Corresponding Author Phone : 91-1332-285390 Fax : 91-1332-285707; e-mail : joshifhy@iitr.ac.in). S.K.Tripathi is with the Department of Water Resources Development and Management, Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee - 247667, Uttarakhand, India (e-mail: sankufwt@iitr.ac.in). and crop yields could drop from 10-30% in many large areas. The huge demand for irrigation combined with fresh water scarcity encourages to explore the reuse of wastewater as a resource [2]. However, the use of such wastewater is often linked to the safety issues when used non-judiciously or with poor safeguards while irrigating food crops. Paddy is the most widely cultivated crop and a staple food for about 3 billion people in the world [3]. It has been reported that South and South-East Asia may suffer economic water scarcity for approximately 22 million ha of irrigated dry-season paddy fields by 2025 [4] and that most countries have suffered from a limited water supply, including agricultural irrigation water, due to factors like population growth, urbanization, and economic development [5]. Considering that Paddy production requires large amounts of water, reclaimed wastewater can be thought as an alternative water source for supplementary irrigation in areas that suffer from water shortages or unsatisfactory water quality since agricultural irrigation water is not usually required to meet same high standards of water quality as the drinking water [6]-[8]. In view of this, guidelines have been developed by Ministry of Environment and Forestry (MOEF) and Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), Govt.of India, which have now broadly been adopted for irrigating field crops in India. Few reports of practical wastewater reuse for paddy cultivation in lowland areas have been presented [6]-[10], while case studies for paddy cultivation in upland areas have been reported in many countries [8]. Reuse of treated wastewater reduces effluent discharges into receiving waters and offers a reliable water supply for applications that do not require high-quality water, thus freeing up otherwise limited potable water resources [11]. Wastewater reuse is advantageous for many reasons [12], including tackling water scarcity in arid and semi-arid areas, avoiding the high energy cost of advanced wastewater treatments, and also the surface water pollution due to direct discharge of wastewater effluents [13]. Compared with other types of water reuse, employing wastewater effluents in agriculture presents the additional benefit of nutrient recycling in crop irrigation [14]. There have been numerous examples showing successful usage of recycled agricultural wastewater over the past few decades [15]-[17]. A central theme in the planning and practice of wastewater reuse in agriculture has been an assessment of the associated risks to humans, as it is unanimously accepted that there are some elements of risk in every practice of wastewater reuse [18]. Trace elements that are potentially harmful to human health, such as heavy metals (cadmium, copper, lead, selenium, zinc), could be found in treated municipal wastewater effluents. Furthermore, Achieving Sustainable Agriculture with Treated Municipal Wastewater Reshu Yadav, Himanshu Joshi, S. K.Tripathi F World Academy of Science, Engineering and Technology International Journal of Biological, Biomolecular, Agricultural, Food and Biotechnological Engineering Vol:9, No:6, 2015 601 International Scholarly and Scientific Research & Innovation 9(6) 2015 scholar.waset.org/1999.1/10001767 International Science Index Vol:9, No:6, 2015 waset.org/Publication/10001767