The United Nations has published a new report which advocates a paradigm shift to view the vast quantities of domestic, agricultural and industrial wastewater discharged globally into the environment everyday as a valuable resource rather than as a costly problem.
The UN is launching World Water Development Report, Wastewater: the Untapped Resource, today in Durban on the occasion of World Water Day.
Introducing the report, Guy Ryder, Chair of UN-Water and Director-General of the International Labour Organization said:
“Wastewater is a valuable resource in a world where water is finite and demand is growing.”
“Everyone can do their bit to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal target to halve the proportion of untreated wastewater and increase safe water reuse by 2030. It's all about carefully managing and recycling the water that runs through our homes, factories, farms and cities. Let's all reduce and safely reuse more wastewater so that this precious resource serves the needs of increasing populations and a fragile ecosystem.”
As the overall demand for water grows, the quantity of wastewater produced and its overall pollution load are continuously increasing worldwide. Over 80% of the world’s wastewater – and over 95% in some least developed countries – is released to the environment without being either collected or treated.
This is particularly true in low-income countries, which on average only treat 8% of domestic and industrial wastewater, compared to 70% in high-income countries. Wastewater generation is one of the biggest challenges associated with the growth of informal settlements (slums) in the developing world.
As a result, in many regions of the world, water contaminated by bacteria, nitrates, phosphates and solvents is discharged into aquifers, rivers and lakes ending up in the oceans, with negative consequences for the environment and public health. The volume of wastewater to be treated will rise considerably in the near future especially in cities in developing countries with rapidly growing populations.
The 2017 edition of the United Nations World Water Development Report, entitled “Wastewater: The Untapped Resource”, demonstrates how improved wastewater management generates social, environmental and economic benefits essential for sustainable development.
In particular, the Report seeks to inform decision-makers, government, civil society and private sector, about the importance of managing wastewater as an undervalued and sustainable source of water, energy, nutrients and other recoverable by-products, rather than something to be disposed of or a nuisance to be ignored.
The report covers a wide-ranging number of key issues, including:
- Wastewater as a resource: Seizing the opportunities
- Technical aspects of wastewater
- Wastewater sources and components
- Impacts of releasing untreated or inadequately treated wastewater
- Wastewater collection and treatment
- Data and information needs
- Urbanization and its impact on wastewater production
- Sources of wastewater in municipal and urban systems
- Composition of municipal and urban wastewater
- Managing urban runoff
- Extent of industrial wastewater generation
- Nature of industrial wastewater
- Addressing the resource challenge
- Agriculture as a source of water pollution
- Building resilient infrastructure
- A systems approach to wastewater by-product recovery
- Regional challenges – Africa, the Arab Region, Asia and the Pacific , Europe and North America, Latin America and the Caribbean
- Decentralized treatment and stormwater management
- Sewer mining and component separation
- Resource recovery from wastewater and biosolids
- Trends in research and innovation
Wastewater is now poised to play a critical role in the context of a circular economy - economic development balanced with the protection of natural resources and environmental sustainability, will lead to a cleaner and more sustainable economy with a positive effect on water quality.
The United Nations World Water Development Report is a UN-Water Report coordinated by the UN World Water Assessment Programme of UNESCO. It argues that once treated, wastewater could prove invaluable in meeting the growing demand for freshwater and other raw materials. Improved wastewater management is essential to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
In her foreword to the Report, UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova, said:
“The 2017 World Water Development Report shows that improved wastewater management is as much about reducing pollution at the source, as removing contaminants from wastewater flows, reusing reclaimed water and recovering useful by-products. […] Raising social acceptance of the use of wastewater is essential to moving forward.”
Click here to download the report in full
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