How wastewater can help tackle water shortages

Why in the News?

Water shortages are causing tensions in Europe as it is experiencing severe heat and drought due to lack of rainfall in 2023.

• In Spain, water reserves have dropped to 41% leading to severe crop losses and water restrictions in place in some regions.
• Human-induced climate change has led to increased heat waves and drought.
• Demand for the resource is growing with industry and agriculture leading to more groundwater extraction.

Who uses the most water?

1. Europe’s Industries use 50% of its water resources, followed by Agriculture (40%) and Households (10%).
2. Water scarcity impacts 11% of all citizens in the EU.
3. In 2022, some nuclear power plants in France were switched off because river water used for cooling them was too warm.
4. In Norway, Dry summer reduced hydropower generation output.
5. Households are forced to use-restrictions due to water scarcity.

What can be done?

1. Treated wastewater of industrial and domestic use can be used for irrigation which could protect valuable freshwater supplies.
   • Wastewater can be used 6 times more compared to current levels in the EU.
2. New EU regulations on minimum requirements for water reuse for agricultural irrigation has been put into force.
   • It stipulates that communal and industrial wastewater must be processed after use by farmers of all EU member states.
   • Processing and reusing water can replace 20% of irrigation needs in Spain and Portugal and 40% needs in France, Italy and Greece, all of which uses groundwater for irrigation.
3. Certain factors to be considered in the EU wastewater regulation:
   • Use of industrial and communal wastewater for irrigation can be counterproductive if water processing plants fails to filter out all pollutants that can contaminate soil and plants.
   • The water levels in the river could drop if too little processed water from industry and municipalities is fed back into them.
   • Cost factor involved in procuring recycled water that will directly incentivise/disincentivise farmers to use it for agriculture.
4. Shifting to less water-intensive crops like millet and wheat from rice and maize.
   • Italy forms Europe’s largest rice-growing area where farmers use water from Po River and also depend on winter snowfall in the Alps.
   • Winter wheat, a crop plant that is less water dependent and grows early and already ripens in early summer.
   • Crops such as legumes like lentils and chickpeas can withstand heat and don’t need much water.
   • Use of efficient drip irrigation in the place of large-scale water sprinklers.
5. Maintenance of pipes that shuttle the resource to homes and businesses to check for leaks and broken pipes.
   • About 60% of Bulgaria’s water disappears through leaks and for Italy it stands at 40%
   • These countries invest least amount of money per citizen to fix leaky water infrastructure.