Introduction

The world is facing a water quality crisis caused by increasing pollution loads from growing cities, unsustainable industrialization and food production practices, improving living standards and poor water and wastewater management strategies. Wastewater is both an asset and a problem in an urbanizing world (Drechsel et al., 2015a; UN-Water, 2015). Unmanaged wastewater is an important source of pollution and a hazard for human health and ecosystems services. The costs related to the pollution of water bodies can be significant: the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment report suggests the cost of degradation of ecosystem services in coastal waters is mostly associated with impacts on human health (MEA, 2005), while the overall economic value of the goods and services delivered by healthy coasts and oceans are worth trillions of dollars.

Sustainable Development Goals:

Clean Water and Sanitation

Sustainable Cities and Communities

Responsible Consumption and Production