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Water
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Urban Wastewater Reuse – Challenges, Risks and Opportunities
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Urban Wastewater Reuse – Challenges, Risks and Opportunities

A special issue of Water (ISSN 2073-4441). This special issue belongs to the section "Urban Water Management".

Deadline for manuscript submissions: closed (30 November 2022) | Viewed by 6545

Special Issue Editors

Dr. Cristina Santos

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Department of Civil Engineering, Universidade do Porto, 4099-002 Porto, Portugal
Interests: wastewater and greywater reuse; rainwater harvesting; urban water management; climate change impacts; urban drainage systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals
Dr. Cristina Matos

E-Mail Website
Guest Editor
Escola de Ciências e Tecnologia, Universidade de Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Quinta de Prados, 5000-801 Vila Real, Portugal
Interests: wastewater and greywater reuse; rainwater harvesting; low impact development; energy to water nexus; urban drainage systems
Special Issues, Collections and Topics in MDPI journals

Special Issue Information

Dear Colleagues,

Water stress and scarcity are increasing in many regions of the world and climate change will intensify the risk of droughts and water shortages. The largest part of the water used in urban areas comes from rivers and groundwater, which are vulnerable sources to threats stood by over-exploitation, pollution and climate change. To adapt our cities to the future decades and make them resilient, it is fundamental to reduce potable water consumption, use alternative water sources and make a more feasible use of water in our daily activities.

In this scope, and regarding the evolution of wastewater systems in the last decades (on the attendance level and treatment quality), it is now possible to look at treated wastewater as an alternative and, possibly, a reliable source of water, due to its proximity to urban areas and to the increasing quality of the treatment processes.

It is therefore justifiable the promotion of a more generalized reuse of treated wastewater in urban areas but for that purpose, it is fundamental to closely study subjects such as, and not limited to:

  • Identification and reduction of risks;
  • Impacts on the existing networks;
  • Impacts on superficial and ground water resources;
  • Pricing strategies;
  • Quality levels for different end-uses (fit-for purpose approach);
  • Social acceptance;
  • Centralized and decentralized systems;
  • Water-Energy Nexus.

Dr. Cristina Santos
Prof. Dr. Cristina Matos
Guest Editors

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Water is an international peer-reviewed open access semimonthly journal published by MDPI.

Please visit the Instructions for Authors page before submitting a manuscript. The Article Processing Charge (APC) for publication in this open access journal is 2600 CHF (Swiss Francs). Submitted papers should be well formatted and use good English. Authors may use MDPI's English editing service prior to publication or during author revisions.

Keywords

  • wastewater reuse systems
  • risks
  • echonomical feasibility
  • additional tratment
  • impacts
  • pubblic acceptance
  • technical aspects

Published Papers (2 papers)

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Research

16 pages, 2970 KiB  
Article
Light or Dark Greywater for Water Reuse? Economic Assessment of On-Site Greywater Treatment Systems in Rural Areas
by Eduardo Leiva, Carolina Rodríguez, Rafael Sánchez and Jennyfer Serrano
Water 2021, 13(24), 3637; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w13243637 - 17 Dec 2021
Cited by 5 | Viewed by 3336
Abstract
Water scarcity is causing a great impact on the population. Rural areas are most affected by often lacking a stable water supply, being more susceptible to the impact of drought events, and with greater risk of contamination due to the lack of appropriate [...] Read more.
Water scarcity is causing a great impact on the population. Rural areas are most affected by often lacking a stable water supply, being more susceptible to the impact of drought events, and with greater risk of contamination due to the lack of appropriate water treatment systems. Decentralized greywater treatment systems for water reuse in rural areas can be a powerful alternative to alleviate these impacts. However, the economic feasibility of these systems must be thoroughly evaluated. This study reports an economic analysis carried out on the viability of greywater reuse considering scenarios with light greywater or dark greywater to be treated. For this, data obtained from the assembly and monitoring of greywater treatment systems located in the north-central zone of Chile, supplemented with data obtained from the literature were used. The results showed that both scenarios are not economically viable, since the investment and operating costs are not amortized by the savings in water. In both evaluated cases (public schools), the economic indicators were less negative when treating light greywater compared with the sum of light greywater and dark greywater as the inlet water to be treated. The investment and operating costs restrict the implementation of these water reuse systems, since in the evaluation period (20 years) a return on the initial investment is not achieved. Even so, our results suggest that the best alternative to reuse greywater in small-scale decentralized systems is to treat light greywater, but it is necessary to consider a state subsidy that not only supports capital costs but also reduces operating and maintenance costs. These findings support the idea that the type of water to be treated is a factor to consider in the implementation of decentralized greywater treatment systems for the reuse of water in rural areas and can help decision-making on the design and configuration of these systems. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Wastewater Reuse – Challenges, Risks and Opportunities)
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16 pages, 4416 KiB  
Article
Analysis of the Water–Energy Nexus of Treated Wastewater Reuse at a Municipal Scale
by Cristina Santos, Francisco Taveira-Pinto, David Pereira and Cristina Matos
Water 2021, 13(14), 1911; https://0-doi-org.brum.beds.ac.uk/10.3390/w13141911 - 09 Jul 2021
Cited by 6 | Viewed by 2506
Abstract
Treated wastewater has the potential to be a feasible alternative to supply non-potable uses and avoid water scarcity in urban areas, but it is important to understand and compare the associated energy consumption and CO2 emissions. This study presents a comparative analysis [...] Read more.
Treated wastewater has the potential to be a feasible alternative to supply non-potable uses and avoid water scarcity in urban areas, but it is important to understand and compare the associated energy consumption and CO2 emissions. This study presents a comparative analysis of the water–energy nexus associated with the traditional water supply and to the alternative reuse of treated wastewater, both for non-potable purposes. A case study of a Portuguese municipality was considered, regarding golf course irrigation and municipal gardens irrigation. A balance between production and demand was established, and the energy consumption and CO2 emissions were calculated considering the supply with drinking water and with treated wastewater. Three scenarios were defined to analyze the water–energy nexus for different configurations of the potential end-uses: (1) golf course supply, (2) municipal irrigation supply and (3) simultaneous supply to the golf course and to municipal irrigation. A quality analysis was also carried out by comparing the records from discharged wastewater quality parameters with the limits presented in the legislation for each proposed non-potable use. The results show that all scenarios present significant annual savings from using treated wastewater instead of drinking water from the public network, especially scenarios 1 and 3, that consider the golf course irrigation (water costs decrease by about 60,000.00 EUR/year). Regarding the water–energy nexus, this study reveals that treated wastewater spends less energy on its production and supply and produces fewer CO2 emissions. The energy savings can reach an average value of about kWh/year, with 5300 fewer kg of CO2 emitted in the best scenario. Full article
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Urban Wastewater Reuse – Challenges, Risks and Opportunities)
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