Source Separation and Decentralization for Wastewater Management

Is sewer-based wastewater treatment really the optimal technical solution in urban water management? This paradigm is increasingly being questioned. Growing water scarcity and the insight that water will be an important limiting factor for the quality of urban life are main drivers for new approaches in wastewater management. Source Separation and Decentralization for Wastewater Management sets up a comprehensive view of the resources involved in urban water management. It explores the potential of source separation and decentralization to provide viable alternatives to sewer-based urban water management.

During the 1990s, several research groups started working on source-separating technologies for wastewater treatment. Source separation was not new, but had only been propagated as a cheap and environmentally friendly technology for the poor. The novelty was the discussion whether source separation could be a sustainable alternative to existing end-of-pipe systems, even in urban areas and industrialized countries.

Since then, sustainable resource management and many different source-separating technologies have been investigated. The theoretical framework and also possible technologies have now developed to a more mature state. At the same time, many interesting technologies to process combined or concentrated wastewaters have evolved, which are equally suited for the treatment of source-separated domestic wastewater.

The book presents a comprehensive view of the state of the art of source separation and decentralization. It discusses the technical possibilities and practical experience with source separation in different countries around the world. The area is in rapid development, but many of the fundamental insights presented in this book will stay valid.

Source Separation and Decentralization for Wastewater Management is intended for all professionals and researchers interested in wastewater management, whether or not they are familiar with source separation.

Part 1: The advantages of source separation and decentralization

Energy, Nutrients (N and P), Water scarcity, Micropollutants, Costs of infrastructure, Decentralization in industrialized countries, Sanitation in developing countries.

Part 2: The challenges of source separation and decentralization

Implementation in cities, Hygiene, Recycling of nutrients to agriculture, Potential of control and monitoring, Acceptance, Market success.

Part 3: Potential technologies for source separation

Conceptualizing sanitation systems, Wastewater composition, Treatment of the solid fraction, Aerobic elimination of organics and pathogens, Advanced nitrogen removal, Anaerobic treatment, Electrochemical systems, Transfer into the gas phase, Transfer into the solid phase, Membrane processes, Advanced oxidation, Up-concentration of combined wastewater as an alternative to source separation.

Part 4: The international experience

Practical experience with source separation and decentralization in Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Australia, The Netherlands, and in developing countries.

Part 5: The paradigm shift

Why question the prevailing paradigm of wastewater management? How to spur innovation?