Water scarcity and pollution are among the most crucial problems for the countries in the world. The increase in the population of urban areas and climate change make this situation worse for the countries’ water management. One of the mitigation measures for water scarcity & wastewater management is reclamation and recycling.
Currently, there is growing awareness of the impact of industrial sewage on lakes and rivers initiated by the World Bank and local governments. Still, in the context of urban rapid development, domestic wastewater should also be considered promptly.
The current urban wastewater management system has a linear approach that is based on disposal. The traditional approach should be converted to the circular economy i.e., a closed loop for domestic wastewater management, which means conservation of water and recovery of nutrients from wastewater.
The most commonly quoted definition of sustainable development is “Meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs (World Commission on Environment and Development, 1987 – the ‘Bruntland Report’)”. For water resources, Feitelson and Chenoweth (2002*) interpret this as ‘water resources left for future generations should be of similar quantity and quality as those available to current generations.
It is predicted that over half the world’s people will face water shortages during the next 30 years (Postel, 1997; United Nations Environment Programme, 2002*; Hunt, 2003).
70 % of water abstraction in the world is because of agricultural purposes and in Lithuania approximately 4% of GDP is dependent on the agricultural sector and heavily dependent on groundwater abstraction. To make the water sustainable as defined above, individual efforts are necessary to make the water available to future generations without compromising the use of the present generation.
Sustainability Challenges
when sustainability is considered in terms of domestic wastewater treatment plants following issues are being faced by companies
1.Low Cost:
There are many technologies available to customers but the cost of the unit’s relevance to the technology is directly proportional, which is not an ideal scenario for commercial consumption but for the wide usage of advanced technology it should be low cost so that it will widely used by the public to make the significant impact for water sustainability. one should consider low cost as the capital, operational and maintenance cost.
2.Simplicity of operations & maintenance:
To ensure the widespread use of domestic wastewater plants, the operations of domestic wastewater should be very simple and user-friendly along with a very low maintenance cost or interval.
3.low energy & chemical consumption:
The indirect cost of wastewater treatment plants is a crucial factor for the widespread of wastewater at domestic level. The lower cost of the treated wastewater per kwh and lower chemical consumption is the ideal scenario, preferably zero, use of chemicals, especially chlorine or other environmentally damaging disinfectants for the sustainable use of wastewater plants.
4.low space & maintenance requirements:
The land requirement of wastewater treatment plants should be very minimal for domestic settings with minimum maintenance requirements.
BioTornado makes sure of the above mentioned sustainability challenges!
Sustainable wastewater treatment options
Now the requirement of sustainable wastewater treatment has been mentioned above, now there are several options to find the best-fit technology for the particular requirement and area. There is no one fit-for-all-all solution, one should analyze the whole individual situation to find the best-fit options of the wastewater treatment plants for individual use
| Technologies | Health & Hygiene | Environment & Resources | Maintenance | Financial |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Constructed wetland | May be set up for solar disinfection | Natural engineered systems Low energy demand | Easy to operate. High robustness and low vulnerability to crises. Highland requirements | Investment cost mostly for land plot. Operation close to free if gravity flow possible |
| Aerobic Process | Require post treatment for portable use | Possibility of tertiary recovery of nutrients and energy from sludge | Relatively easy to operate with remote monitoring. Suitable for “package” construction | medium upfront investment and O&M costs |
| Filtration aerobic (MBR) | May be suitable for reuse without posttreatment, depending on degree of filtration | Very energy intensive. Smaller footprint than aerobic conventional. | More complex operation, with fouling problems in time. Robust towards flow and load variations | Highest investments and O&M (increased for energy, but less sludge to manage) |
| Anaerobic (UASB) | Require posttreatment | Energy neutral or positive (biogas generation in the presence of strong wastes). | Relatively easy to operate at optimal conditions. | Medium investment, Low O&M |
BioTornado makes use of both aerobic & anaerobic technology to make sure to address all sustainability challenges being faced by the individual and also provide tailored solutions according to individual needs. wastewater offers following sustainable use of domestic wastewater
Conclusion
wastewater treatment plants can ensure, if properly designed, highly efficient reduction of pollutants, by themselves or in combination with pre- or post treatment steps. In practice, the selection of technologies for wastewater treatment often depends on costs and on the possibility of its adaptation to local conditions. A simple method of multicriteria analysis, illustrated above, in agreement with the concept of sustainable development, considers the basic applicable criteria.
