There are 2.4 billion people without improved sanitation and another 2.1 billion with inadequate sanitation (i.e. wastewater drains directly into surface waters), and despite improvements over the past decades, the unsafe management of fecal waste and wastewater continues to present a major risk to public health and the environment (UN, 2016). There is growing interest in low cost sanitation solutions which harness natural systems. However, it can be difficult for wastewater utility managers to understand under what conditions such nature-based solutions (NBS) might be applicable and how best to combine traditional infrastructure, for example an activated sludge treatment plant, with an NBS such as treatment wetlands. There is increasing scientific evidence that treatment systems with designs inspired by nature are highly efficient treatment technologies. The cost-effective design and implementation of ecosystems in wastewater treatment is something that exists and has the potential to be further promoted globally as both a sustainable and practical solution. This book serves as a compilation of technical references, case examples and guidance for applying nature-based solutions for treatment of domestic wastewater, and enables a wide variety of stakeholders to understand the design parameters, removal efficiencies, costs, co-benefits for both people and nature and trade-offs for consideration in their local context. Examples through case studies are from across the globe and provide practical insights into the variety of potentially applicable solutions.

Water quality standards across the world are being re-written to promote healthier ecosystems, ensure safe potable water sources, increased biodiversity, and enhanced ecological functions. Treatment wetlands are used for treating a variety of pollutant waters, including municipal wastewater, agricultural and urban runoff, industrial effluents, and combined sewer overflows, among others. Treatment wetlands are particularly well-suited for sustainable water management because they can cope with variable influent loads, can be constructed of local materials, have low operations and maintenance requirements compared to other treatment technologies, and they can provide additional ecosystem services. The technology has been successfully implemented in both developed and developing countries. The first IWA Scientific and Technical Report (STR) on Wetland Technology was published in 2000. With the exponential development of the technology since then, the generation of a new STR was facilitated by the IWA Task Group on Mainstreaming Wetland Technology. This STR was conceptualized and written by leading experts in the field. The new report presents the latest technology applications within an innovative planning framework of multi-purpose wetland design. It also includes practical design information collected from over twenty years of experience from practitioners and academics, covering experiments at laboratory and pilot-scale up to full-scale applications. Scientific and Technical Report No.27

Giving an account of successfully applied and recently developed green remediation technologies for water pollution control, this book describes the scope and applications of nature-based wastewater treatment technologies for environmental sustainability. The major focus is on associated eco-environmental concerns, recent technological developments, field studies, lessons learned, sustainability concerns, and future challenges. It also deals with the development of valuable bioresources together with wastewater treatment for the circular economy. This book: Covers nature-based wastewater treatment systems for the efficient management of wastewater for the protection of precious water resources. Includes development and utilization of useful bioresources, bioenergy, and value-added products together with wastewater treatment for the circular economy. Discusses technological aspects such as design, operation, and maintenance, eco-friendliness, effectiveness, and sustainability concerns. Highlights technological advancements, field experiences, research gaps, recent developments, challenges, and future directions for further improvements. Reviews field studies and challenges between pollution sources, exposure pathways, and impacts on environmental quality and human health. This book is aimed at graduate students and researchers in environmental engineering and sciences, environmental microbiology, and biotechnology.

By 2025, two thirds of the world’s population will be living in water stressed conditions. Meanwhile, the degradation of water ecosystems is occurring at alarming rates. Water utilities and water regulators that choose to play an active role in catchment management with nature based solutions (NBS) are uniquely positioned to help. Building a robust knowledge base and supporting opportunities for cross-sector collaboration are fundamental to the mainstreaming of NBS. The International Water Association (IWA) and The Nature Conservancy (TNC) are working together to encourage and facilitate active utility involvement in NBS, as well as promoting stronger connections between water utilities and regulatory bodies. Implementation of NBS involves multiple, interdependent stakeholders at various governance levels, and consequently regulators a key role in creating the enabling environments for these interactions and negotiations. This publication taps into diverse geographies and contexts, delving into case studies for a richer conversation that addresses the variety of challenges and elements for success for integrating NBS into water utility operations and planning. By publicizing successful case studies, the IWA/TNC partnership fulfils a dual purpose of endorsing these efforts and providing actionable guidance for other water utilities striving to improve their sustainability and resiliency.

A-Z guide to soil/plant/microbe-based wastewatertreatment Engineers and planners eager to benefit from the costefficiencies and convenience of land treatment of waste will find practical guidelines in this comprehensive manual. It covers soil hydraulics, vegetation selection, site selection, field investigations, preapplication treatment and storage, and transmission and distribution of wastewater. You're introduced to: Design procedures and appropriate uses for each of the three land treatment processes: soils, plants, and microbiological agents Special attributes of food processing wastewater, with 6 case studies The use of biosolids produced by mechanical treatment systems as crop nutrients Options for preapplication treatment, including ponds and constructed wetlands Much more

Globally, poor hygiene and sanitation contribute to more than 1,000 daily deaths from diarrhoeal diseases among children under the age of 5, while two thirds of urban wastewaters are discharged without treatment into lakes, rivers and coastal waters. Across Europe the percentage of the population connected to wastewater treatment plants varies from 14% to >99% with many reliant on unsuitable decentralised sanitation systems or no wastewater treatment at all. With less than a decade left to achieve the 2030 sanitation targets as set out in the Sustainable Development Goals, there is an urgent need to develop new treatment solutions that can be rapidly deployed to meet the needs of growing urban and peri-urban populations, together with under-served rural communities. This book discusses decentralised wastewater treatment and the role of nature-based solutions within the context of the twenty-partner international INNOQUA project. INNOQUA set out to develop and demonstrate a suite of modular, low cost, decentralised solutions that use the combined capabilities of earthworms, bacteria, Cladocera and micro-algae to deliver nature-based primary, secondary and tertiary treatment - followed by UV disinfection. Design and operation principles are outlined, together with performance data and practical feedback from pilot and demonstration facilities situated in eleven countries from Ecuador to Scotland and India. Barriers and drivers towards more widespread uptake of these technologies are also examined, alongside an exploration of existing markets for nature-based sanitation in the Global South.