Introduction

  • Around the world farmers in developing countries often fertilize their crops with raw sewage. Crops blossom. But the bacteria from human and animal waste and an awful soup of chemicals in the sewage inflict an array of sicknesses and diseases on farm workers and the unwitting families who buy the food in markets and
  • take it home to eat. Officials in Mexico City are trying to fix their problem with raw sewage and farming by replacing their “Aguas Negras” or “Black Waters” with cleaner, healthier water. But they are just starting work on a big treatment plant and, already, they are running into objections from farmers who do not see the full
  • scope of the health disaster and worry that treated water will not be as good for their crops and their earnings. Janet Jarman, an award-winning photojournalist and multi-media specialist in Mexico City, tells the story here in three parts: Great Fertilizer, The Human Cost and The Source, The Solution.

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