Report urges more wastewater treatment, reuse and recycling

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Report published by IWA and OFID

KUWAIT CITY, March 3: Director General of the OPEC Fund for International Development (OFID) Suleiman Al-Herbish has announced the publication of a new report entitled, “The Reuse Opportunity: Cities seizing the reuse opportunity of wastewater in circular economy,” published by the International Water Association (IWA) and OFID.

In a press statement, OFID disclosed the report stresses the need for decisive, immediate and extensive action to increase wastewater treatment, reuse and recycling. The report also indicates that cities, as drivers of the global economy, must lead this resource revolution to pave way for transition to a circular economy. According to the report, wastewater is a global problem and around 80 percent of all wastewater is discharged untreated into rivers, lakes and oceans, and these disposal habits create health and environmental hazards, and contributes to Greenhouse Gas emissions, including nitrous oxide and methane.

These emissions are three times larger than those produced by conventional wastewater treatment activities, and that, recovering water, energy, nutrients and other precious materials embedded in wastewater is an opportunity for cities to transition to the circular economy and contribute to improved water security. Al-Herbish pointed out that this report tackles global wastewater challenge and the reuse opportunity in eight cities, which are in low or middle-income countries where future challenges will be more acute and the need for change is urgent.

The report presents city roadmaps and identifies priorities, as well as the benefits of meeting the Sustainable Development Goal of halving the proportion of untreated wastewater and substantially increasing recycling and safe reuse by 2030. Meanwhile, Executive Director of IWA Professor Kala Vairavamoorthy revealed, “The global market for wastewater recycling and reuse reached nearly $12.2 billion in 2016 and is estimated to reach $22.3 billion by 2021.

“This market expansion is in response to a growing demand from cities and industry for water against a backdrop of increased urbanization, population growth and climate variability, the result of which is greater water scarcity at a time of increasing global demand. Wastewater management as a resource is a critical solution to these challenges,” the professor added. The report focuses on eight cities, all of which are facing different water and wastewater challenges and developing different solutions to address them, and which could be applied in other cities.

These cities include Aqaba in Jordan, Bangkok in Thailand, Beijing in China, Chennai in India, Durban in South Africa, Kampala in Uganda, Lima in Peru and Manila in the Philippines. OFID is an intergovernmental development finance institution established in 1976 by member states of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) as a collective channel of aid to developing countries. Working in cooperation with country partners and the international donor community, OFID aims to stimulate economic growth and alleviate poverty by providing financing to build basic infrastructure, boost delivery of social services and promote productivity, competitiveness and trade

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