Wastewater is a growing health and environmental threat, accounting for almost as many planet warming emissions as the aviation industry. Yet, with the right policies, wastewater could be an invaluable resource, providing alternative energy to half a billion people, supplying over 10 times the water provided by current global desalination capacity and offsetting over 10 per cent of global fertilizer use.

More than 10 years have passed since the release of the report 'Sick Water? The Central Role of Wastewater Management in Sustainable Development', and despite some progress, significant amounts of wastewater are still being released untreated into the environment with negative repercussions for the environment and human livelihood.

This new report, “Wastewater - Turning problem to solution” urges decision makers and action takers from all regions of the world to implement the three key actions, to overcome some or all seven barriers, and to put in place all or some of the six building blocks, described in the publication.

This new report builds on the previous Sick Water? report (https://wedocs.unep.org/20.500.11822/9156), starting with the premise that wastewater is an important and valuable resource that can also help avoid costs of pollution and biodiversity loss. It aims to inspire policy and decision makers to be proactive in leading transformational change in sustainable wastewater management by closing the loop in the water cycle and realizing the opportunities to reuse the resources that can be recovered from wastewater.

About the 2010 publication;
The world is facing a global water quality crisis. Continuing population growth and urbanisation, rapid industralisation, and expanding and intensifying food production are all putting pressure on water resources and increasing the unregulated or illegal discharge of contaminated water within and beyond national borders.This publication analyses the threats and the challenges posed by illegal and unregulated wastewater.