Rajeev Pratap Singh - Water Conservation, Recycling and Reuse: Issues and Challenges

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Water contamination is as old as civilization, with metals, industrial effluent, and human sewage taking the lead in stamping our historical footprint on the planets lakes, streams, and rivers. Over time, we have become a bit wiser as global citizens, successfully reducing our legacy of contamination from these traditional sources. Like peeling an onion, however, each layer of contamination we remove unmasks contaminants below.

These emergent contaminants share a common story line: they are present in municipal and industrial wastewater discharge. As we attempt to change the water resource paradigm from divided sectors of water supply and wastewater discharge to a One Water world, research into the removal, neutralization, and bioremediation of traditional and emergent contaminants is critical to wastewater reuse as part of the worlds water supply.

As stewards of our planets finite freshwater resources, it is our responsibility to see that our water is safe and clean to use now and for future generations. All are related.

Increasing global population combined with diminishing freshwater supplies exert growing pressures on available water resources. Significant non-potable uses of water include crop irrigation and energy production. As agricultural production and energy production intensify to meet the growing global needs, the pressures on freshwater supplies are accelerated. An alternative to increasing withdrawals of freshwater supplies to meet future agricultural and energy demands is the use of nonconventional water sources including wastewater reuse. Effective long-term use of alternative waters requires an understanding of temporal, spatial, and climate-induced trends in their quantity and quality as well as any regulatory or economic barriers to their adoption. Concerns associated with the use of alternative water sources are based on questions about the safety and quality of food crops growing using recycled wastewater, the safety of agricultural workers, and the potential for contaminant accumulation and impacts on soil productivity. Additionally, regulations controlling the use of alternative water sources vary significantly from across the globe. These economic, regulatory, and technical concerns must be addressed with research efforts to identify sustainable strategies that link collection, storage, and treatment of recycled or reused water. This book explores various issues related to water recycling and reuse in the context of agricultural production and energy applications.

Chapter entitled Occurrence and Health Impacts of Emerging Contaminants in Municipal Wastewater Reuse focuses on the occurrence of pharmaceuticals and personal care products (PPCPs) and perfluorinated compounds (PFCs) in wastewater and describes treatment technologies for removal of these compounds prior to wastewater reuse.

Chapter entitled Promises and Challenges of Growing Microalgae in Wastewater describes the potential for growing algae as a feedstock for biofuel production using wastewater, which can provide a valuable source of nutrients. The microalgae grown in wastewater can also serve as a remediation strategy for water-borne pollutants.

Chapter is entitled Risk of Metal Contamination in Agriculture Crops by Reuse of Wastewater: An Ecological and Human Health Risk Perspective. This chapter focuses on the potential for accumulation of metals in the topsoil of plants and subsequent uptake into food crops. This chapter also explores human and ecological health risks from this wastewater reuse paradigm.

Chapter entitled Biological Wastewater Treatment for Prevention of River Water Pollution and Reuse: Perspective and Challenges outlines the potential for wastewater remediation strategies that involve oxidation ponds, plants, and constructed wetlands, which can potentially reduce the costs and infrastructure associated with wastewater treatment.

Chapter entitled Climate Change and Sustainable Management of the River System with Special Reference to the Brahmaputra River describes the results of a sampling campaign along the Brahmaputra River and the influence of climate on mineral weathering and metal release within the river system.

Chapter entitled Effects of Climate Change on Reuse of Wastewater for Aquaculture Practices evaluates the impact of climate change, including higher water temperatures and more extreme precipitation events on wastewater quality and the potential for reuse of wastewater through aquaculture.

Chapter entitled Bioprocesses for Wastewater Reuse: Closed Loop System for Energy Options describes various biologic processes for wastewater treatment linked with generation of biomass, which can be used to produce bioenergy and/or other biobased products.

Chapter entitled Subsurface Processes Controlling Reuse Potential of Treated Wastewater Under Climate Change Conditions evaluates biogeochemical processes controlling solute fate in the subsurface as well as a case study of groundwater contamination from land application of wastewater.