REUSE OF

WASTEWATER

Presented by;
Bithika Roy
Kinley choden

Content

Introduction
Objective of wastewater treatment
Process of wastewater treatment
Challenges of wastewater management
Advantages and disadvantages of reuse of
waste water
Reuse of wastewater
Reuse of wastewater in India
Conclusion
Reference

Introduction
Wastewater

reuse is a common practice in

developing countries of Asia and Africa.
Also the water scarce regions of the
developed world like Australia.
In India, wastewater is used either raw or
partially treated due to high treatment
costs.
Wastewater reuse both for agriculture and
aquaculture is a centuries old practice.

 Irrigation

with wastewater is both disposal

and utilization and indeed is an effective
form of wastewater disposal.
Increased water reuse is inevitable in the
world today as the existing water supplies
are simply incapable of meeting the future
demands.

Objectives of waste
water treatment
Reduction

of biodegradable
organic substances in the
environment
Reduction of nutrient
concentration in the
environment
Elimination of pathogens
Recycling and reuse of water

Process of waste water treatment

Physical unit operations

Screening

Flow equalization
Sedimentation
Flotation
Granular-medium filtration

Chemical unit operations

Chemical precipitation
Adsorption

Disinfection
Dechlorination
Other chemical applications

Biological unit operations

Activated sludge process

Aerated lagoon
Trickling filters
Rotating biological contactors
Pond stabilization
Anaerobic digestion

Challenges of waste water

management
Infrastructure
Most often wastewater infrastructure are not
the priority of most politicians and therefore
very little investment are made.

Pollution of water sources

The pollution of waste water treatment plant
is very common. Many carbonaceous matter,
nutrients, salts,
medications(drugs),chemicals are discharged
into the wastewater treatment plant.

Choice of appropriate technology

Sometimes the management of the
operations and maintenance of parts of
treatment plant become quite challenging
as the technical expertise, power
requirements etc are not sustainable.

Sludge production
Treatment of wastewater results in the
production of sewage sludge.Due to the
presence of heavy metals in wastewater, it
is sometimes feared that agricultural use
may lead to accumulation of heavy metals
in soils.

Advantages and Disadvantages

of reuse of waste water
Advantages
conserves water (by recycling and groundwater
recharge)
is a low-cost method for sanitary disposal of
municipal wastewater
reduces pollution of rivers and other surface water
conserves nutrients, thereby reducing the need for
artificial fertilizer
increases crop yields
provides a reliable water supply to farmers.

Disadvantages
Health risks for the irrigators and communities in
prolonged contact with untreated wastewater and
Health risks for the consumers of vegetables
irrigated with wastewater
Contamination of groundwater, especially with
nitrates
buildup of chemical pollutants in the soil,
especially heavy metals
creation of habitats for disease vectors such as
mosquitoes in peri-urban areas.

Reuse methods of waste water

Agricultural

Irrigation : includes irrigation

for edible and non-edible crops , pasture
irrigation and livestock watering.
Cooling Water: Many industries, including
power generating plants use large
quantities of water for cooling purposes.
Landscape, Irrigation and Recreation :
includes irrigation and ornamental planting
in golf courses, parks; also use of the
reclaimed wastewater to fill artificial lakes
for recreational purposes.

 Industrial

Process Water: Many industries

use significant amount of water in their
manufacturing process and thus can utilize
recycled wastewater.

Non-Potable Water Reuse: Includes uses

of the reclaimed water for toilet flushing,
fire protection and air conditioning.

Groundwater Recharge:either by
infiltration through the ground surface or
direct injection into aquifers.

Case study: wastewater use in India

Urban areas in India generated about 5 billion
liters a day (bld) of wastewater in 1947 which has
increased to about 30 bld in 1997 (Winrock
International India 2007).
According to the Central Pollution Control Board
(CPCB), 16 bld of wastewater is generated from
Class-1 cities (population>100,000),
1.6 bld from Class-2 cities (population 50,000100,000).
Of the 45,000 km length of Indian rivers, 6,000
km have a bio-oxygen demand above 3 mg/l,
making the water unfit for drinking (CPCB 1998).

 Untreated

wastewater from domestic,

hospital and industrial areas pollute rivers
and other natural water bodies.
Only 4,000 Million Liters per Day [MLD] out
of 17,600 MLD wastewater generated in
India is treated due to lack of resource
treatment.

Wastewater reuse.
1. Untreated and partially treated wastewater
released from the major cities of India like
New Delhi, Mumbai, Bangalore, Kolkata,
Hyderabad, Ahmedabad,etc., is mainly used
for irrigation of the following crops:
Cereals
Vegetables
Flowers
Avenue trees and parks
Fodder crops:

2. Aquaculture : The East Kolkata sewage

fisheries are the largest single wastewater
use system in aquaculture in the world
(Pescod 1992).
3. Agroforestry : Consists of spatially mixed
treecrop combinations (Bradford et al. 2003).
The two most important tree species are
sapta and guava.
Chennai is a pioneer in such wastewater
reuse in India (YUVA, Mumbai. 2005).

Implications of Wastewater
Reuse
There are both positive and
negative implications of
wastewater reuse.
The positive implications include:
employment generation, food
security for urban and peri-urban
poor farmers,
reliable supply of irrigation water
and the recycling of nutrients in
wastewater.

-In the peri-urban areas along Musi,

Hyderabad, it was found that wastewaterirrigated paddy contributes almost 43% of
household food consumption (Buechler and
Mekala 2005).
-The high nutrient content of the wastewater
helps farmers save on the fertilizer costs and
its reliable supply helps increase the cropping
intensity.

On the other hand, because of the partial or

no treatment of wastewater,its long-term
use of wastewater for irrigation increases
soil salinity, accumulation of heavy metals
in the soil, and finally breakdown of the soil
structure.
The paddy (rice) production has reduced by
40-50%.
Wastewater contains a number of
pathogens which can cause diseases to
consumers.

wastewater containing a high level of

nutrients may cause eutrophication and
cause imbalances in the ecology of the
water bodies.
In addition, a number of social concerns like
impaired quality of life, loss of property
value , food safety, health and welfare and
sustainability of land use are associated
with wastewater use (Hussain et al. 2001).

Conclusion
Wastewater

use in agriculture has been a

common phenomenon in a number of water
scarce developing countries for more than a
century now.
It has been and is still supporting the
livelihoods of a number of urban and periurban farmers.
The environmental and health related
problems of the use of untreated
wastewater has become prominent.

 with

the growing population the volumes of

urban wastewater have dramatically
increased.
With issues of climate change, increase in
urban population and increased demand for
water wastewater reuse is becoming an
important strategy to complement the
existing water resources for both
developing and developed countries.
It was estimated that 73,000 ha were
irrigated with wastewater in India.

Wastewater
Reuse and Recycling Systems:A
Reference
Perspective into India and Australia by Gayathri Devi
Mekala, Brian Davidson, Madar Samad and AnneMaree Boland
REUSE OF TREATED WASTEWATER AND SLUDGE FOR
AGRICULTURE IN INDIA CASE STUDY S. N.
Patankar1.
Wastewater Management by Peace Amoatey (Mrs)
and Professor Richard Bani , Department of
Agricultural Engineering , Faculty of Engineering
Sciences , University of Ghana , Ghana.