Just Released | The United Nations World Water Development Report 2017 - Wastewater: The Untapped Resource

The United Nations World Water Development Report 2017 - Wastewater: The Untapped Resource

by WWAP (United Nations World Water Assessment Programme).  Paris, UNESCO, 2017, ISBN: 9789231002014.

Abstract: The 2017 edition of the United Nations WWDR, the forth in a series of annual, theme-oriented reports, addresses an often overlooked issue that is critical to water resources management and the provision of basic water-related services: wastewater. Maximizing wastewater's potential as a valuable and sustainable resource requires creation of enabling environment for change, including suitable legal and regulatory framework, appropriate financing mechanisms and social acceptance. With a political will to do so the current obstacles, such as lack of knowledge, capacity, data and information on wastewater, can be effectively overcome.

Summary: Most human activities that use water produce wastewater. 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 treatment.

Once discharged into water bodies, wastewater is either diluted, transported downstream or infiltrates into aquifers, where it can affect the quality (and therefore the availability) of freshwater supplies. The ultimate destination of wastewater discharged into rivers and lakes is often the ocean with negative consequences for the marine environment.

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 and is essential to achieving the 2030 Agenda 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's title reflects the critical role that wastewater is poised to play in the context of a circular economy, whereby economic development is balanced with the protection of natural resources and environmental sustainability, and where a cleaner and more sustainable economy has a positive effect on the water quality.

Improved wastewater management generates social, environmental and economic benefits, and is essential to achieving the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Table of Content

Foreword | by Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO

Foreword | by Guy Ryder, Chair of UN-Water and Director-General of International Labour Organization

Preface | by Stefan Uhlenbrook, WWAP Coordinator and Richard Connor, Editor-in-Chief

Executive Summary

Prologue | State Of Water Resources: Availability and Quality

Part I Baseline and Context

Chapter 1 | Introduction | 1.1 Wastewater flows | 1.2 Wastewater as a resource: Seizing the opportunities

Chapter 2 | Wastewater and The Sustainable Development Agenda | 2.1 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development | 2.2 Potential synergies and conflicts

Chapter 3 | Governance | 3.1 Actors and roles | 3.2 Policy, law and regulation | 3.3 Financing | 3.4 Socio-cultural aspects

Chapter 4 | Technical Aspects Of Wastewater | 4.1 Wastewater sources and components | 4.2 Impacts of releasing untreated or inadequately treated wastewater | 4.3 Wastewater collection and treatment | 4.4 Data and information needs

Part II Thematic Focus

Chapter 5 | Municipal and Urban Wastewater | 5.1 Urbanization and its impact on wastewater production | 5.2 Urban forms | 5.3 Sources of wastewater in municipal and urban systems | 5.4 Composition of municipal and urban wastewater | 5.5 Urban form and the potential for municipal and urban wastewater use | 5.6 Managing urban runoff

Chapter 6 | Industry | 6.1 Extent of industrial wastewater generation | 6.2 Nature of industrial wastewater | 6.3 Addressing the resource challenge | 6.4 Wastewater and sustainable industrial development

Chapter 7 | Agriculture | 7.1 Agriculture as a source of water pollution | 7.2 Agriculture as a user of wastewater

Chapter 8 | Ecosystems | 8.1 The role and limits of ecosystems in wastewater management | 8.2 Planned use of wastewater for ecosystem services | 8.3 Operational and policy aspects

Part III Regional Aspects

Chapter 9 | Africa | 9.1 Water and wastewater in Sub-Saharan Africa | 9.2 Critical challenges | 9.3 The way forward

Chapter 10 | The Arab Region | 10.1 Context | 10.2 Challenges | 10.3 Responses

Chapter 11 | Asia and The Pacific | 11.1 Context and challenges | 11.2 Building resilient infrastructure | 11.3 A systems approach to wastewater by-product recovery | 11.4 Regulatory and capacity needs

Chapter 12 | Europe and North America | 12.1 Context | 12.2 Challenges | 12.3 Responses |

Chapter 13 | Latin America and The Caribbean | 13.1 The urban wastewater challenge | 13.2 Recent expansion of urban wastewater treatment | 13.3 Ongoing concerns and expanding opportunities | 13.4 Benefits of urban wastewater treatment | 13.5 Other sources of wastewater | 13.6 Lessons learned

Part IV Response Options

Chapter 14 | Preventing and Reducing Wastewater Generation and Pollution Loads At The Source | 14.1 Mechanisms for controlling and monitoring pollution | 14.2 Technical responses | 14.3 Financial approaches and behavioural change

Chapter 15 | Enhancing Wastewater Collection and Treatment | 15.1 Sewers and waterborne sanitation | 15.2 Low-cost sewerage | 15.3 Combined sewerage | 15.4 Decentralized treatment (DEWATS) | 15.5 Decentralized stormwater management | 15.6 Evolution of treatment technologies | 15.7 Sewer mining and component separation

Chapter 16 | Water Reuse and Resource Recovery | 16.1 Beneficial reuse of water | 16.2 Resource recovery from wastewater and biosolids | 16.3 Business models and economic approaches | 16.4 Minimizing risks to human health and the environment | 16.5 Regulations for water reuse | 16.6 Social acceptance of wastewater use

Chapter 17 | Knowledge, Innovation, Research and Capacity Development | 17.1 Trends in research and innovation | 17.2 Knowledge, research, technology and capacity-building gaps | 17.3 Future trends in wastewater management | 17.4 Capacity building, public awareness and collaboration among stakeholders |

Chapter 18 | Creating An Enabling Environment | 18.1 Technical options | 18.2 Legal and institutional frameworks | 18.3 Financing opportunities | 18.4 Enhancing knowledge and building capacity | 18.5 Mitigating human and environmental health risks | 18.6 Fostering social acceptance | 18.7 Coda

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