#worldwaterday: UN calls attention to wastewater as alternative source of water

FOLLOWING the increasing demand for safe water, the United Nations (UN) has on Tuesday, called attention to wastewater which it said can be a reliable alternative source of water.

It said most human activities produce wastewater and over 80 percent of the world’s wastewater is released to the environment without treatment.

Reading the 2017 United Nations World Water Development report in Abuja, at the 2017 World Water day event organised by the Ministry of Water Resources, the Director General, of the United Nations Agency for Water Sciences and Education UNESCO, Ms. Irina Bokova, said limiting the discharge of untreated wastewater will not only save lives and strengthen healthy ecosystem, but also help sustainable growth.

The theme for the 2017 World Water day event is ‘Water and Wastewater’.

Bokova, who was represented by Mr. Moses Beckley, Secretary, Nigeria National Committee for UNESCO stressed the need to shift paradigm of wastewater management from ‘treatment and disposal’ to ‘reduce, reuse, and recycle and resource recovery’.

“Wastewater should no longer be seen as a problem, but as part of the solution to challenges that all soared facing.”

She said treated wastewater can be a cost-efficient, sustainability, safe and reliable alternative source of water for various purposes ranging from irrigation and industrial uses to drinking water, particularly under conditions of water scarcity.

“For this, we need to change mind-sets, to raise awareness and redouble educational efforts to share the benefits of wastewater reuse.

“We need to see improved wastewater management at the heart of a circular economy, balancing development with the protection and sustainable use of natural resources.

“At a time when demand is growing and limited resources are increasingly stressed by over-abstraction, pollution and climate change, we simply must not neglect the opportunities from improved wastewater management.   We cannot afford to waste wastewater,” it stated.

Earlier, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Water Resources, Mrs Rabi Jimeta said the theme: ‘Water and Wastewater’ seeks to highlight the symbiosis between water and wastewater in the quest for sustainable development.

She said: “Wastewater is perceived as a valuable resources in the secular economy and its safe management as an efficient investment in the health of humans and ecosystem.”