Contextualizing Farmers’ Perceptions of Agricultural Wastewater Reuse in Areas of Water Shortage and Contamination: An In-Depth Case Study of Wadi Al-Far’a Watershed—Palestine

Abstract

What shapes farmers perception of agricultural wastewater reuse (WWR) in Palestine under circumstances of water shortage, poor sanitation, and political uncertainty? The current study answers this question by applying the ‘cultural approach’ to situate farmers’ perceptions of agricultural WWR within broader contextual frameworks and offer interpretations beyond individual attitudes provided solely by the psychological and psychometric approaches. It deploys qualitative case study research design and combines six qualitative and quantitative data collections. The study argues that a complex series of interrelated individual and contextual factors shape farmers’ perceptions of agricultural WWR. While farmers’ economic, agricultural, health, environmental, and political concerns related to agricultural WWR significantly influence their perceptions of using RW, farmers’ psychological, social, and religious concerns were not significant. Contrary to what has been perceived by stakeholders in the Palestinian water and wastewater sector, the researchers conclude that the issue of social acceptance of agricultural WWR is not an obstacle to implementing agricultural WWR projects in Palestine. Institutional conservatism, which resists community participation, and weak institutional structure could be what initially contributed to farmers’ opposition to past WWR projects. The researchers contribute both conceptually and methodologically to the existing knowledge. They offer a conceptual model for case study research examining farmers’ perceptions of agricultural WWR and invent the concept of Case-Driven Significant Factor (CDSF) which promotes a new type of individual and contextual factors derived from the particularities of the case itself.