Water reuse

According to an assessment by the World Resources Institute, a quarter of the world's population lives in regions with an acute and extreme water shortage. The situation is likely to worsen worldwide in the next few decades. Especially the rapid growth of population, increasing urbanization, progressive industrialization and agricultural activities, exacerbated by the effects of climate change, are putting enormous stress on our global water resources. In order to alleviate water scarcity and conflicts due to competing needs between the drinking water, agriculture and energy sectors, water must be far more efficiently and sustainably managed. Within the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG 6.3) exactly this intention is manifested, namely to guarantee the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all. In this context, particularly water recycling and safe reuse were highlighted as crucial options.

Water reclamation and reuse can efficiently and sustainably overcome water resource issues by creating new sources of high-quality local water supplies and therefore partially substituting already scarce freshwater resources. Especially reclamation of stormwater runoff or (municipal) wastewater and their reuse can effectively alleviate challenges associated with increasing water-use conflicts. The inclusion of water reuse in integrated water resources planning represents a sustainable approach in water resource management. However, the integrated concept of water management involving the convergence of diverse areas such as governance, health risks, regulation, and public perception represents a significant challenge to water reuse why further research in this field is urgently necessary.