Wastewater - Turning Problem to Solution

Effective and coherent legislation and governance

Implementation of three action areas will require increased political awareness, improved coherence across water related policies and regulations, better alignment between sectors and engagement of all relevant stakeholders (UNESCO and the Water Security and Sustainable Management [i-WSSM] 2020; Bauer and Wagner 2022). Efforts to develop coherent multisectoral, multilevel and transboundary governance can unblock the barriers for reuse and resource recovery. For example, the promotion of energy generation in waste treatment facilities as part of their renewable portfolio would create the opportunity to provide the same incentives to the waste treatment utilities that they would offer to the energy sector. The stronger regulation of landfill use could provide incentives

to promote the beneficial use of biosolids; or the appropriate pricing of fresh water could help the switch for industries to shift to using treated wastewater instead (UNESCO and i-WSSM 2020). The role of urban planning in water reuse at the subnational and city levels has been identified as an important area for the development of sustainable, more water-resilient cities (Bauer and Wagner 2022). Integrating the development of water reuse sources with the intended end-user applications can help understand the strategies, guidelines and measures that may be needed for successful wastewater reuse and the transition to a circular economy (Voulvoulis 2018; Bauer and Wagner 2022).

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