DEVELOPMENT NEWS
THE OPEC FUND, WASTEWATER AND SUSTAINABLE CITIES
A recent report – The Reuse Opportunity – published by the International Water Association and the OPEC Fund, argues that decisive, urgent and large-scale action is needed to dramatically increase wastewater treatment, reuse and recycling. The report states that cities, as drivers of the global economy, must lead this resource revolution to enable a transition to a circular economy.
Wastewater is a global problem. Today, around 80 percent of all wastewater is discharged untreated into rivers, lakes and oceans. It creates 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. 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.
The report focuses on eight cities, all facing different water and wastewater challenges and developing different solutions to address them, and which could be applied in other cities. The cities are:
• Aqaba, Jordan: A mid-size city turning its “zero discharge” challenge into a good opportunity;
• Bangkok, Thailand: Using wastewater as a resource and a valuable economic good;
organically. In developing countries, urbanization and industrialization have often been unbalanced and uncontrolled, leading to a highly uneven distribution of wealth, environmental depletion and unequal urban-rural relations. The Third Industrial Revolution started changing this paradigm, as the automation of industrial processes and the introduction of computers allowed faster communication and eventually remote working. This shift became evident when data processing and the Internet started influencing industrial production by exploiting the disruptive potential of the Internet of Things, automation, machine- learning and data analysis to enhance labour and resource
efficiency, thus boosting productivity. The Fourth Industrial Revolution will have a deep impact on urban development in the future by affecting the way in which cities develop spatially and economically; resources and waste will be (re-)used and services will be provided to citizens. The concept of smart and sustainable cities is therefore linked to and based on how these processes and technologies will be applied in cities in the future.”
Source: Bridge for Cities 4.0 Belt & Road Initiative: Connecting Cities through the New Industrial Revolution Concept Note.
Please see http://
www.unido.org/4th- bridge-cities-event for information about outcomes, event- related resources – including a guide for urban stakeholders on the benefits of cooperation among cities – and more.
PHOTO: United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO)
• Beijing, China: Building infrastructure to keep up with an ever- expanding mega city;
• Chennai, India: Addressing water scarcity through accelerated wastewater reuse;
• Durban, South Africa: Treating wastewater as an economic good; • Kampala, Uganda: Protecting its water source with an integrated plan to control, treat and reuse wastewater;
• Lima, Peru: Learning by doing under the urgency of shrinking glaciers;
• Manila, Philippines: A mega city regenerating resources through wastewater treatment and reuse.
See
http://iwa-network.org/publications/ the-reuse-opportunity/
Cities must lead
the resource revolution to enable a transition to a circular economy
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PHOTO:
anek.soowannaphoom/
Shutterstock.com
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