Reflecting the concerns over environmental sustainability, there has been an increasing focus on the protection of our water resources and on the proper management of our waste. Our economic growth can only be sustainable when it does not represent a threat to human health and to fauna, flora, and eco-system in the long-term. A long-term resilience, new business and economic opportunities, and environmental sustainability can be achieved through circular economy model that offers us a world of opportunity to rethink and redesign our economic activities and consumption patterns. With an aim to give the reader a new perspective on this issue, this book covers European Union’s water and waste management legislation and the Czech Republic’s transposition of this legislation, and includes a comparative analysis of the performances of the EU Member States on the implementation of new water and waste management policy strategies.

This book provides the first comprehensive assessment of the various issues faced by countries in the European Union, where progressing climate change and urbanization pose significant cooperative challenges in a large number of river basins. Conducting a thorough analysis of the intricate web of EU water governance, it reveals that the hydropolitical stability of the European Union is already at risk. Further, given the structural nature of the shortcomings in EU water policy—e.g. the rigidity of the EU’s founding treaties or the institutional complacency of the European Commission—the book argues that these risks are likely to turn into sources of prolonged conflict, unless EU decision-making bodies take steps to address the new hydrological realities early on.

A fundamental natural resource, water and its use not only reflect "modes of production" but also that complex interplay between resources and their exploitation (and domination) by various social agents, who in their turn are inevitably influenced by the abundance or rarity of water supplies. Focusing on scientific, social and economic issues from the 16th to the 19th century, the author, one of Italy's leading historians in this field, looks at the innumerable conflicts that arose over water resources and the environmental impact of projects intended to control them. Venice and Holland are undoubtedly the two most fascinating cases of societies "built on water," with the conquest of vast expanses of marshland - either inland or on the coast (the Dutch polders or the Venetian lagoon) – not only stimulating agricultural production, but also nurturing a deeply-felt relationship between the local populations and the element of water itself. The author rounds off his study by looking at the influence the hydraulic technology developed in Holland would have on many European countries (France, England and Germany in particular) and at questions raised by contemporaries about the environmental impact of agricultural progress and its effects upon the social-economic equilibria within the communities concerned.

Looks at the opportunities and challenges of managing the European water environment

Wastewater Characteristics, Treatment and Disposal is the first volume in the series Biological Wastewater Treatment, presenting an integrated view of water quality and wastewater treatment. The book covers the following topics: wastewater characteristics (flow and major constituents) impact of wastewater discharges to rivers and lakes overview of wastewater treatment systems complementary items in planning studies. This book, with its clear and practical approach, lays the foundations for the topics that are analysed in more detail in the other books of the series. About the series: The series is based on a highly acclaimed set of best selling textbooks. This international version is comprised by six textbooks giving a state-of-the-art presentation of the science and technology of biological wastewater treatment. Other titles in the series are: Volume 2: Basic Principles of Wastewater Treatment; Volume 3: Waste Stabilisation Ponds; Volume 4: Anaerobic Reactors; Volume 5: Activated Sludge and Aerobic Biofilm Reactors; Volume 6: Sludge Treatment and Disposal

This book offers a broad and global level description of the current status of wastewater use in agriculture and then brings the readers to various places in the MENA Region and Europe to explain how some countries and regions have addressed the challenges during implementation. On a global scale, over 20 million hectares of agricultural land are irrigated using wastewater. This is one good, and perhaps the most prominent, example of the safe use potential of wastewater. Water scarcity and the cost of energy and fertilisers are among the main factors driving millions of farmers and other entrepreneurs to make use of wastewater. In order to address the technical, institutional, and policy challenges of safe water reuse, developing countries and countries in transition need clear institutional arrangements and more skilled human resources, with a sound understanding of the opportunities and potential risks of wastewater use. Stakeholders in wastewater irrigation who need to implement from scratch or improve current conditions, find it difficult to gather the necessary information on practical implementation aspects. The main objective of this book is to bridge that gap.

First Published in 2009. Routledge is an imprint of Taylor & Francis, an informa company.

Throughout history, the first and foremost role of urban water management has been the protection human health and the local aquatic environment. To this end, the practice of (waste-)water treatment has maintained a central focus on the removal of pollutants through dissipative pathways. Approaches like – in case of wastewater treatment – the activated sludge process, which make ‘hazardous things’ disappear, have benefitted our society tremendously by safeguarding human and environmental health. While conventional (waste-)water treatment is regarded as one of the greatest engineering achievements of the 20th century, these dissipative approaches will not suffice in the 21th century as we enter the era of the circular economy. A key challenge for the future of urban water management is the need to re-envision the role of water infrastructure, still holding paramount the safeguard of human and environmental health while also becoming a more proactive force for sustainable development through the recovery of resources embedded in urban water. This book aims (i) to explain the basic principles governing resource recovery from water (how much is there, really); (ii) to provide comprehensive overview and critical assessment of the established and emerging technologies for resource recovery from water; and (iii) to put resource recovery from water in a legal, economic (including the economy of scale of recovered products), social (consumer’s point of view), and environmental sustainability framework. This book serves as a powerful teaching tool at the graduate entry master level with an aim to developing the next generation of engineers and experts and is also highly relevant for seasoned water professionals and practicing engineers.

The United Nations World Water Assessment Programme (WWAP) is hosted and led by UNESCO. WWAP brings together the work of 31 UN-Water Members and 38 Partners to publish The United Nations World Water Development Report, (WWDR) series. The annual World Water Development Reports focus on strategic water issues. UN-Water Members and Partners, all experts in their respective fields, contribute the latest findings on a specific theme. The 2017 edition of the World Water Development Report focuses on 'Wastewater' and seeks to inform decision-makers, inside and outside the water community, about the importance of managing wastewater as an undervalued and sustainable source of water, energy, nutrients and other recoverable by-products, rather than something to be disposed of or a nuisance to be ignored. The report's title - Wastewater: The Untapped Resource - reflects the critical role that wastewater is poised to play in the context of a circular economy, whereby economic development is balanced with the protection of natural resources and environmental sustainability, and where a cleaner and more sustainable economy has a positive effect on the water quality. Improved wastewater management is not only critical to achieving the Sustainable Development Goal on clean water and sanitation (SDG 6), but also to other goals of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.