More than 1 million hectares of urban land in India could be irrigated for crops if wastewater was made safe for use. Lack of systematic data collection by municipalities makes it difficult to accurately assess the wastewater generation or estimate the total amount of urban area under wastewater irrigation, so the potential of urban and peri-urban farming could be even greater. This study attempted to analyze the current status of wastewater generation, its uses and livelihood benefits especially in agriculture, based on national data and case studies from Ahmedabad, New Delhi, Hyderabad, Kanpur and Kolkata.

Eating locally and developing an urban-rural food continuum is a rapidly evolving movement. Integration of multi-functional forms of agriculture — termed New Forms of Urban Agriculture (NFUA) — could be a critical adaptation to strengthen this movement and for the sustainability of cities. While NFUA have the potential to provide diverse benefits to humans, there is an absence of reliable empirical data on the scale and impact of urban resources on NFUA which has a profound impact on its viability and sustainability. In this book, we shift the focus from how NFUA have potential to impact the urban system to investigate the potential impacts of urban resources on NFUA. Access to resources such as land, labour, clean water, etc. are major barriers to enter the agriculture sector in the cities; the chapters in this book present projects or reviews recent research on the subject from different cities in the world. This edited volume offers critical perspectives from diverse disciplines, expertise, and geographic contexts related to the actual and potential role of urban and peri-urban agriculture in the developing and the developed world where forms, adaptations, and debates around NFUA vary distinctively. Using and urban ecology lens, the book provides empirical evidence of how urban resources of land, water/waste, labour, and biodiversity impact NFUA.

Wastewater Treatment and Reuse - Lessons Learned in Technological Developments and Management Issues, Volume 6 explores emerging and state-of-the-art technologies. Chapters cover Treatment options for the direct reuse of reclaimed water in developing countries, Water reuse in India: Current perspectives and future potential, Water reuse practices, solutions and trends at international, Impact of the use of treated wastewater for agricultural need: behavior of organic micropollutants in soil, transfer to crops, and related risks, Environmental risks of sewage sludge reuse in agriculture, Modeling tools for risk management in reclaimed wastewater reuse systems: Focus on contaminants of emerging concern (CECs), and much more. - Covers a wide breadth of emerging and state-of-the-art technologies - Includes contributions from an international board of authors - Provides a comprehensive set of reviews on wastewater treatments and reuse

The issue of overflowing landfills and environmental degradation caused by municipal solid waste is becoming increasingly pressing. Despite the importance of recycling, challenges such as contamination and the need for market demand for recycled materials persist. Addressing these challenges requires a comprehensive understanding of waste composition, innovative technologies, and effective policies. Municipal Solid Waste Management and Recycling Technologies serves as a solution, offering a deep dive into the complexities of municipal solid waste recycling and providing insights that can drive sustainable waste management practices. By delving into topics such as the role of education and awareness campaigns, technological advancements in waste sorting, and the economic aspects of recycling, this book equips readers with the knowledge needed to make a meaningful impact. It explores innovative recycling technologies, social and environmental implications, successful case studies, and strategies for reducing contamination in recycling processes. The book also highlights the importance of collaboration among researchers, policymakers, and stakeholders to implement effective waste management systems.

This book presents a conceptual and practical tool for those involved directly or indirectly in the planning and management of basic provision of water supply, wastewater and stormwater services in metropolitan regions by offering insights into governance paradigms and institutional arrangements for urban wastewater reuse in agriculture from Australia and India. Instead of focusing on the technical aspects of designing and building infrastructure, it provides a better understanding of the institutional and governance challenges of managing urban wastewater, particularly for reuse in agriculture. As water supplies fall and water stress increases in many areas, the potential of wastewater as a resource is being widely recognized. Today, wastewater (re)use has become an attractive option for conserving and expanding available water supplies. While wastewater (re)use can have many applications, its use in agriculture is the most established, and the one with the longest tradition. Given the growing competition for freshwater from industry and cities, without doubt there is going to be a rapid increase in the global use of treated wastewater, making improved wastewater use in agriculture an emerging priority. Even though it is a vast resource if we reclaim it properly, often most wastewater is wasted. Therefore, in order to realize the full potential of this resource, decision support in policy design and implementation (Institutions and Governance) is key. Institutions and governance frameworks need to provide for the rights of access, rights of ownership, rights to manage source and treated water and the obligations of final use of recycling operations.

This book identifies emerging technologies that allow the reuse and regeneration of industrial wastewater with innovative and applied approaches throughout the wastewater treatment cycle. Today, it is increasingly clear that treated urban wastewater, whose reuse has become an important component of long-term water management worldwide, is a key source of chemical pollutants and emerging biological concerns. Current water-quality guidelines for reclaimed wastewater predominantly address the risks associated with the presence of microbial organisms and chemical parameters such as biological oxygen demand, chemical oxygen demand, E. coli and worms, and in some cases heavy metals; however, they are insufficient for the full evaluation of risks. The global growth of population is concentrated in urban areas; therefore, most of the challenges and solutions related to wastewater reside in urban treatment plants. Unless wastewater management and wastewater governance processes are significantly improved within a decade, it is likely that our societies will face severe and prolonged water insecurity and urban floods. The application of sustainable technologies can eliminate or minimize micro-contaminants in wastewater. Several organizations focus on the potential impacts to humans and their environments by wastewater reuse. This book gathers new research and reviews work from researchers and scientists to identify the main barriers and limitations that will need to be overcome, so that wastewater reuse strategies gain more momentum and will be adopted more efficiently worldwide. The book is designed for engineers, scientists, and other professionals who are seeking an excellent introduction to and basic knowledge of the principles of environmental bioremediation technologies.

This comprehensive volume explores the interface between politics and policy making in the water management sector of India. The authors discuss the nature of the political discourse on water management in India, and what characterizes this discourse. They also explore how this discourse has influenced the process of framing water related policies in India, particularly through the ‘academics-bureaucrat-politician’ nexus and the growing influence of the civil society groups on policy makers, which are the defining feature of this process, and which have produced certain policy outcomes that are not supported by sufficient scientific evidence. The book reveals that the social and management sciences, despite being increasingly relevant in contemporary water management, are unable to impress upon traditional, engineer-dominated water administration to seek solutions to complex water problems owing to a lack of interdisciplinary perspective in their research. The authors also examine the current deadlock in undertaking sectoral reforms due to existing water policies not being honoured. This collection includes several research studies which suggest legal, institutional policy alternatives for addressing the problems in areas such as irrigation, rural and urban water supply, flood control and adaptation to climate variability and change. It was originally published as a special issue of the International Journal of Water Resources Development.

Water - a basic element of life, livelihood, food security and sustainable development - holds the key to global sustainability. The global water demand has been increased 3-fold in the past five decades and only 0.4% of the total world’s fresh water resources is available and accessible for use. The United Nations projected that half of all countries will face water scarcity by 2025 and more than one-third of the world’s population could be affected by water stress by 2050. The water problem is rapidly intensifying in the Asian region, and around 700 million people do not have access to safe drinking water. Similarly, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, by 2050, more than one billion people in Asia alone are projected to experience negative impacts on water resources as a result of climate change. Climate change is also putting extra pressure on and adversely affecting the global water cycle, leading to irregular precipitation, more floods and droughts and creating an imbalance between water supply and demand. The availability of safe water is a major global concern due to the rapidly increasing population, urbanization, unsustainable consumption patterns, and rapid shifts in land use. It is believed that reduced access to freshwater will have cascading consequences that will pose threat to global food security, livelihood security, and cause large scale migration and economic and geopolitical tensions. As such, strategies for water conservation, wastewater reuse and recycling should be adopted in order to lessen the gap between supply and demand for water for different activities. This book provides readers with a better understanding of the water security challenges, and presents innovations to address these challenges, strengthen the science-policy interface, and develop institutional and human capacities for water security and sustainability.

This book addresses electro-fermentation for biofuel production and generation of high-value chemicals and biofuels using organic wastes. It covers the use of microbial biofilm and algae-based bioelectrochemical systems (BESs) for bioremediation and co-generation of valuable chemicals, including their practical applications. It explains BES design, integrated approaches to enhance process efficiency, and scaling-up technology for waste remediation, bio-electrogenesis, and resource recovery from wastewater. Features: Provides information regarding bioelectrochemical systems, mediated value-added chemical synthesis, and waste remediation and resource recovery approaches. Covers the use of microbial biofilm and algae-based bioelectrochemical systems for bioremediation and co-generation of valuable chemicals. Explains waste-to-energy related concepts to treat industrial effluents along with bioenergy generation. Deals with various engineering approaches for chemicals production in eco-friendly manner. Discusses emerging electro-fermentation technology. This book is aimed at senior undergraduates and researchers in industrial biotechnology, environmental science, civil engineering, chemical engineering, bioenergy and biofuels, and wastewater treatment.