Water Recycling as a Solution for Scarcity of Water
Water is considered as one of the most essential components that are required to ensure the survival of the living beings. Apart from other purposes, pure drinking water is highly required for human beings to refill their energy. It is mandatory for the human beings to consume pure and clean water in order to make sure that there are no health hazards followed by the consumption of the same. Although two third of the earth comprises of water, it is astonishing yet true that most of the world population is still being deprived of clear drinking water. On the other hand, western countries face scarcity of water and have to depend upon the imports for the same. Water is still a serious concern for a number of countries across the globe. Also, it is to be noted that water is a major natural resource which should be utilised tactfully and carefully in order to refrain from wastage. Scientists are also working hard to come up with innovative ways to tackle this issue. One such innovative method which has been implemented to tackle the issues regarding scarcity of water is recycling of waste water (Angelakis & Snyder, 2015). Just as garbage is recycled to combat with the issues related to pollution, the recycling technique is also used for waste water in order to expand that utility of water.
Scope of the water recycling issue: As the world is having limited supply of drinking water, it is necessary to opt for water recycling in order to overcome the issues generating from scarcity of water. At present, the water supply is considered to be inadequate compared to the overflowing world population (McManus, Ertel & Bogdan, 2015). Water recycling can be helpful to make the water re-usable. Water recycling process also helps to restore the ecological balance of the environment. The rising population in Kent is a major contributor to the initiation of water recycling. As far as the infrastructure is concerned, properly structured methods need to be undertaken in order to ensure that the process harvests the desired outcome. In this context, it is to be mentioned that recycled waste water can bring different health issues. Currently, recycled waste water is used for a number of purposes across the globe. But reusing recycled waste water as drinking water is something which can comprise of a number of risks associated with health. The harmful components in waste water can stay even after recycling process, causing major health related issues. As water is the prime necessity of human beings, the waste water must be recycled and treated thoroughly in order to curb the number of health issues emerging from the consumption of recycled waste water (Garcia & Pargament, 2015).
Scope of the Water Recycling Issue
The broader context of water recycling problem: The high population of the city is the main cause behind the production of a large quantity of sewage water. The sewage water is recycled in order to increase the required water supply for the citizens. As it is known that apart from drinking purpose, water has multiple uses in everyday life. Except for cooking and drinking, the other uses are hardly able to make an impact on the human health. To gain necessary environmental consents and planning, it is highly required to merge with other organisations working towards the same purpose (Mekala & Davidson, 2016). This process is effective as well as time consuming which keeps the authority to refrain from adopting this method. The complexity of the recycling process depends upon the source of the waste water and also the geographical region concerned (Kunz, Fischer, Ingold & Hering, 2016). Hence, it can be said that lack of proper research can result into ineffective outcome of the process. However, the prime issue of the recycled waste water is health related hazards. The key risks involving health is caused by microbial pathogens residing in waste water of sewage. The pathogens are viruses such as Hepatitis A, bacteria such as Salmonella spp, protozoa such as Giardia Lamblia, and helminths such as Taenia spp that is also known as tapeworm. To develop health related issues, one must be exposed to a wide number of pathogens. As waste water of sewage can have multiple pathogens, the recycled waste water might affect the health of the people using the same (Bichai & Ashbolt, 2017). There are environmental hazards as well which can be caused by recycling of waste water.
Consequences of the problem: As it is learnt that there are key medical issues which can be formulated from this problem related to waste water recycling, the overall process can bring serious consequences for the mankind. There are a number of environmental issues as well which can be generated from this context.
- Recycled waste water has excess sodium which might cause soil dispersion, swelling, reduced water infiltration on heavier textured soil
- The harmful components in recycled waste water can hamper the growth of the plants, especially the freshwater plants, making negative impact on the ecosystem
- Recycled waste water can be toxic for the plants if it is accumulated in soil of the ongoing irrigation
- Nitrogen and phosphorus present in recycled waste water can initiate land eutrophication and also in aquatic ecosystems
- Recycled waste water has high level of chloride, therefore it can damage the leaves of a tree or plant if it is sprayed directly (Yan et al. 2016)
- Excess groundwater recharge, secondary salinity and water logging can be caused if recycled water is applied to the land in a large quantity
- A number of harmful chemicals are identified to be present in recycled water which can make negative impact on the endocrine function of animals.
Recommendations to combat the situation: In order to ensure a seamless and healthy water supply the authority must take needful steps to initiate better infrastructure for advanced water recycling. Recycling process of waste water of sewage is critical as it deals with a higher quantity of germs and bacteria and other harmful chemicals (Allinson et al. 2018). Therefore, it is necessary to rethink about the usage of the recycled waste water. It should be used in selective purposes as of now in order to avoid unwanted medical emergencies and ecological imbalance. The health department must implement needful schemes and policies to boost the positive impacts of waste water recycling (Ertel, McManus, Rushing & Bogdan, 2018). Different filtration techniques must be adopted to make the waste water harmlessly reusable. If the recycled water is being used for plants, the person is advised to follow guidelines provided for the same to ensure that the plants are not affected. For daily use, there should be limited usage of recycled water. Apart from that, people should consider conservation of rain water so that the problem related to water can be handled differently as well.
Environmental and Health Issues from Water Recycling
When it comes to making a particular set of audience aware regarding a certain purpose, a policy brief is considered as a trusted method (Wester, Timpano, Çek & Broad, 2016). Policy brief is one of the significant methods which are widely accepted by different organisations and individuals to spread awareness about particular matters (Kerwin & Furlong, 2018). In this context, I have prepared the policy brief as a public servant in the state health department which is aimed to bring forth important aspects of water recycling. I have ensured that the policy brief is able to draw out the expected result by making more people aware about the findings of the researches involving the recycled waste water and its various attributes. I have gathered sufficient data regarding the topic and also analysed several research findings which helped me to develop the above mentioned policy brief. The policy brief highlights important factors related to recycled waste water in Kent and also reflect crucial points regarding the issues of recycled waste water in general. To conduct a proper research, it is important to use correct materials (Davies & Wright, 2014). Hence, I made sure that I use reliable and authentic data sources to gather more information related to recycled waste water. The policy brief summarises the problem related to waste water recycling. I have discussed the scope of the problem and also analysed it in a greater context. The targeted audience would be able to get an overall idea of the prevailing situation. Also, the policy brief highlights consequences of the problem regarding recycled waste water. Apart from scrutinizing the impacts of recycled waste water on the overall wellness of human beings as well as the environment, I have provided a number of recommendations based on the depth of the issue. The recommendations would be able to provide the targeted group of people with needful solutions which might be helpful to combat prevailing situation. The recommendations are presented on the basis of my existing knowledge of the issue and my research findings regarding the same. While preparing the policy brief, I kept in mind that the policy brief must contain important points which are key factors of the topic. I ensured that the policy brief is free of any errors and false statements, and it is focused on the central topic that is waste water recycling.
References
Allinson, M., Kadokami, K., Shiraishi, F., Nakajima, D., Zhang, J., Knight, A., … & Allinson, G. (2018). Wastewater recycling in Antarctica: Performance assessment of an advanced water treatment plant in removing trace organic chemicals. Journal of environmental management, 224, 122-129.
Angelakis, A. N., & Snyder, S. A. (2015). Wastewater treatment and reuse: Past, present, and future.
Bichai, F., & Ashbolt, N. (2017). Public health and water quality management in low-exposure stormwater schemes: A critical review of regulatory frameworks and path forward. Sustainable cities and society, 28, 453-465.
Davies, P. J., & Wright, I. A. (2014). A review of policy, legal, land use and social change in the management of urban water resources in Sydney, Australia: A brief reflection of challenges and lessons from the last 200 years. Land Use Policy, 36, 450-460.
Ertel, D., McManus, K., Rushing, J., & Bogdan, J. (2018). U.S. Patent Application No. 15/712,957.
Garcia, X., & Pargament, D. (2015). Reusing wastewater to cope with water scarcity: Economic, social and environmental considerations for decision-making. Resources, Conservation and Recycling, 101, 154-166.
Kerwin, C. M., & Furlong, S. R. (2018). Rulemaking: How government agencies write law and make policy. Cq Press.
Kunz, N. C., Fischer, M., Ingold, K., & Hering, J. G. (2016). Drivers for and against municipal wastewater recycling: a review. Water science and technology, 73(2), 251-259.
McManus, K., Ertel, D., & Bogdan, J. (2015, May). A Sustainable Choice for Water Treatment/Recycling When Injection is Not an Option or Water Supply is Limited. In SPE Produced Water Handling & Management Symposium. Society of Petroleum Engineers.
Mekala, G. D., & Davidson, B. (2016). A review of literature on the factors affecting wastewater treatment and recycling across a broad spectrum of economic stages of development. Water Policy, 18(1), 217-234.
Wester, J., Timpano, K. R., Çek, D., & Broad, K. (2016). The psychology of recycled water:Factors predicting disgust and willingness to use. Water Resources Research, 52(4), 3212-3226.
Yan, Z. Q., Zeng, L. M., Li, Q., Liu, T. Y., Matsuyama, H., & Wang, X. L. (2016). Selectiveseparation of chloride and sulfate by nanofiltration for high saline wastewater recycling. Separation and Purification Technology, 166, 135-141.
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