Wastewater - Turning Problem to Solution

Nations 2019). The human right to water and sanitation is inextricably linked to human dignity; access to water and sanitation has an impact on everyone’s daily life. Unfortunately, equitable and safe access to water and sanitation remains a challenge for many communities around the world. The lack of adequate sanitation and appropriate wastewater management directly affects people and the environment alike. Consequently, it also hinders other human rights that depend on water, such as the rights to development, to life, to health and food. There is a universal understanding that access to water is necessary to sustain human life and ecosystems, but its true value is still not fully appreciated. The value of water is often equated to what is paid, rather than the catastrophic cost of not having enough of it to fulfil basic needs. Despite the progress made in the past decade to tackle core issues, such as open defecation and the lack of sanitation systems, far too Discharge of untreated wastewater also reduces the opportunity to reuse this potentially valuable resource (Peters 2015). There are several reasons why partially or untreated wastewater is being discharged into receiving waterbodies, including the ocean: poor wastewater collection, insufficient or inadequate treatment infrastructure, expanding populations and urban areas (Corbin 2020), and the increased spatial and temporal variability in precipitation events resulting from changing climatic conditions (Voulvoulis 2018). Description of the different fractions of wastewater Domestic/urban water – Grey water is water that has been used for bathing, laundry, cleaning and cooking. It can contain a range of contaminants, including cleaning products, disinfectants and organic kitchen waste including oil and microplastics. Depending on a household’s behaviour, grey water can also contain improperly disposed toxic household chemicals, such as paints or pharmaceuticals. Black water is water from toilets. It contains urine and faeces with any associated pathogens and can also contain excreted pharmaceuticals.

many people – an estimated 46 per cent of the world’s population – still do not have access to these basic facilities (United Nations 2023a). This has enormous repercussions on people’s dignity and health, as well as contributing to exacerbating environmental pollution, a situation that will become more serious with changing climatic conditions and increasing populations (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change [IPCC] 2022). The provision of sanitation and the management of wastewater is therefore as much a human rights issue as it is a governance, technical and financial challenge. Effectively managing wastewater in a way that recognizes these rights must be a priority if there is to be any chance of achieving the SDGs. The human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment On 28 July 2022, the United Nations General Assembly passed a resolution A/RES/76/300 (United Nations, General Assembly 2022) on the human right to a clean Industrial wastewater – Water from any industry (including, for example extractive, transformational and manufacturing industries) that may contain pollutants. The pollutants depend on the type of industrial process e.g., textile production, paper production, mining, energy production, food processing, etc. and can include suspended solids, nutrients, heavy metals, oils and greases, and other toxic organic and inorganic chemicals Agricultural wastewater – Can contain high concentrations of nitrogen and phosphorus from fertilizer, animal waste, farm chemicals such as pesticides, plastic including microplastic and other contaminants. Stormwater – Depending on the location, this may contain solid waste, such as plastic, sediment, suspended solids, fertilizer, heavy metals and many other pollutants, especially in urban areas.

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