There are 2.4 billion people living without the sanitation sufficient to separate them from their biological waste. For another 2.1 billion, wastewater drains directly into surface waters. Despite improvements over past decades, unsafe fecal waste and wastewater management still presents a major risk to public health and the environment. Natural solutions, including constructed and natural wetlands, wastewater treatment ponds, and green roofs can be added to wastewater treatment systems to support the removal of wastewater contaminants such as bacteria, heavy metals, and high nutrients.
OUR APPROACH: This working group is developing an evidence-based guidance document that assesses both the technical feasibility and practicality of placing nature-based sanitation solutions in diverse local and cultural contexts. Their aim is to inform investment and resource use in the operation and maintenance of sanitation services that support both human and ecosystem health.
This team is made possible in part by the generous support and engagement of the Bridge Collaborative, which unites experts in health, development, and the environment to create the evidence and opportunity to solve big problems for people and the world we share.
- Understand how, where, and when wastewater utilities and their regulators can implement nature-based sanitation solutions into wastewater treatment facilities while providing benefits to nature and supporting biodiversity.
- Create interactive, publicly available guidance that consolidates information and scientific evidence from a variety of applied cases. The aim is to inspire and influence sanitation providers and regulators to design and integrate wastewater treatment facilities with ecosystems in mind in to benefit ecological and human health.
Five working groups are using COST Action to test using “a circular flow system that implements NBS for managing nutrients and resources within the urban biosphere.” They will work with professionals in urban water, resource recovery, and urban farming to better understand the socio-economic impacts of their work.
This report includes guidelines for water districts to use nature-based methods for urban water sanitation, including when and where certain methods are appropriate, and their limitations.
Sewage pollution hotspots threaten biodiversity and ecosystem health in global hotspots (mapped in this paper) across terrestrial, aquatic, and marine systems. Mitigating sewage pollution must be prioritized by the conservation and public health sectors.
International Water Association
The Nature Conservancy
The Nature Conservancy
Arup Group
Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA)
LMA Water Consulting
University of Ljubljana
US Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)
University of Ljubljana
Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA)
Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA)
Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA)
Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA)
Consortium for DEWATS Dissemination Society
Humboldt State University
University of Ljubljana
Consortium for DEWATS Dissemination Society
National Water and Sewerage Corporation, Uganda
BOKU University
IRIDRA
Bridge Collaborative
Consortium for DEWATS Dissemination Society
BOKU University
Bremen Overseas Research and Development Association (BORDA)
IRIDRA
Institut national de recherche en sciences et technologies pour l'environnement et l'agriculture (IRSTEA)
The Nature Conservancy