Now that the world is experiencing global water shortages due to climate change and a burgeoning global population, most individuals are eventually realising the value of fresh water. What they are not doing however is realising the value of ALL water, including used and waste water.

What most individuals do not fully grasp, is the amount of valuable resources in used water. Wastewater contains many valuable finite resources such as energy, metals, nutrients, plastics, water, and much more. These resources are valuable and increasingly viable part of a cyclical economy that should be exploited.

Unfortunately, while Technology is rapidly moving in the right direction and quality and safety can be assured, the biggest hurdle to be overcome is a change of mind-set and acceptance by the general public. Currently judgement is made on origin and not quality, and the only way that we can add value to all water is by transforming recovered resources into commodities that consumers need and value.

This leads us to the concept of “One Water,” which is a global trend that assesses water as a whole and not in individual silos such as drinking water, grey water or wastewater. Most individuals have only recently realised the importance of water to overall health, and this has led to the concept of “One Water, One Health” which includes detection and risk management of known and newly emerging contaminants in water sources.

In order to add value to all water and carry this across to the general public, future technical and scientific developments focussing on more quantitative information on pathogens in water, standardisation, and the development of protocols for using these new techniques to facilitate the automation of processes need to be shared with the public at large in language that they can understand.

If we are to make the best use of water, then we need to ensure that the man in the street fully understands how valuable all water is – this is the only way that they will all do their bit, and that is the only way that society will survive.

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