The Benefits Of Wastewater Management

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Introduction
Poor wastewater management practices contribute to nutrient imbalance and a number of environmental impacts such as eutrophication, discharge of pharmaceuticals and other hazardous contaminants, and loss of aquatic biodiversity [1]. Wastewater contains recoverable resources of economic importance. Therefore, technology development, practices, and policies that enable cost-effective recovery will have far reaching positive socio-economic implications on recovering these resources. The primary problem faced is not the availability of technology for resource recovery, but the lack of commitment (especially in the developing countries), planning and design methodology to identify and deploy the most sustainable solution.
The circular economy concept aims at a global sustainable development where production systems become a closed system in which wastes generated in technical and biological cycles, which also includes wastewater, are recovered as feedstocks [2]. This provides a cradle-to-cradle concept, which substitutes the current 3R (reduce, reuse, and recycle) by a more efficient model where not only the waste is recycled but also used as raw material, and the whole process is driven by renewable energy [2].
1.1 Background

Within the context of a circular economy, …show more content…

Drought-induced water shortages and concern for long-term reliable water supplies caused planners and engineers to rethink on strategies towards sustainable water planning and management. This has caused water reclamation to be viewed as a water supply benefit rather than a water pollution control measure. Water reuse and water conservation were identified as integral parts of long-term water supply plans for various areas [8]. Reclaimed water has both potable and non-potable values. This ranges from aquifer recharge to industrial and agricultural

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