Wastewater Reuse for Irrigation Agriculture in Morocco: Influence of Regulation on Feasible Implementation
, José Manuel Poyatos 1 and Jaime Martín-Pascual 1Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
1) The article discussed an interesting topic and come out with a new idea.
2) The author should more elaborate on their facts and not just report all the statements. Please improve and focus on explanation/ justification.
3) The literature sources should be updated.
4) For the discussion part, the author should focus on the new idea from the research.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 1 Comments:
Point 1: The article discussed an interesting topic and come out with a new idea.
Response 1: Thanks for the comment, we hope that with the answers to the comments the article can finally be accepted.
Point 2: The author should more elaborate on their facts and not just report all the statements. Please improve and focus on explanation/ justification.
Response 2: Thanks for your comment, the following paragraph has been incorporated to answer this question, also in accordance with the observation of reviewer number two, in section 3.3: “It is perceived that, depending on the economic, political and social development of the country, the regulations are evolving and, with it, the technological development in wastewater treatment, which is becoming increasingly demanding.”
Point 3: The literature sources should be updated.
Response 3: Thanks for your comment, we have added three new references of the last two years.
- Cave, B.; Pyper, R.; Fischer-Bonde, B.; Humboldt-Dachroeden, S. & Martin-Olmedo, P. Lessons from an International Initiative to Set and Share Good Practice on Human Healtch in Environmental Impact Assessment. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 2021, 18, 1392. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph18041392.
- World Health Organization. State of the World’s Sanitation: An Urgent Call to Transform Sanitation for Better Health, Environments, Economies and Societies; United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the World Health Organization: New York, NY, USA, 2021. Available online: https://www.who.int/publications/i/item/9789240014473 (accessed on 11 December 2022).
- Dharwal, M.; Parashar, D.; Shehu Shuaibu, M.; Garba, S.; Abubakar, S. & Baba Bala, B. Water pollution: Effects on health and environment of Dala LGA, Nigeria. Materials Today Proceedings 2020, 49, 3036–3039.
Point 4: For the discussion part, the author should focus on the new idea from the research.
Response 4: Thanks for your comment, we have added a description of the new idea in the discussion part, before the conclusion part: “The new idea proposed by this article is to analyze the technologies installed for wastewater treatment in relation to the development of the regulations, analyzing both environmental and socio-economic characteristics”.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.docx
Reviewer 2 Report
This paper shows the feasibility of increasing wastewater reuse for irrigation agriculture in Morocco and how the existing permissive regulation must be improved to force more efficient technologies aimed at ensuring the agricultural goods exports to the most restrictive international markets. The results show how the quality standards of the Moroccan regulation are below of their equivalents in the regulations of developed countries. After verifying that tertiary treatment is financially feasible, the updated regulation must also consider the climatic water scarcity and the low cultural perception of environmental and human health risks to design optimal solutions.
I have no problem with the paper. But it is suggested that authors should state the research framework, and in particular in terms of what is the influence (e.g. economic, political, social, etc.) at the front of the paper.
Author Response
Response to Reviewer 2 Comments:
Point 1: It is suggested that authors should state the research framework, and in particular in terms of what is the influence (e.g. economic, political, social, etc.) at the front of the paper.
Response 1: Thank you for your interesting comment, the following paragraph has been included in section 3.3: “It is perceived that, depending on the economic, political and social development of the country, the regulations are evolving and, with it, the technological development in wastewater treatment, which is becoming increasingly demanding.”
Author Response File: Author Response.docx
