Developed by the Water Quality and Environment Group, the Wastewater Database contains information on wastewater production, treatment, re-use, as well as economic information provided by member states. Published data in peer-reviewed papers, workshop/conference/meeting proceedings, and FAO's related databases such as AQUASTAT and FAOSTAT are also included.

The Database information is sorted by region and country containing fields on wastewater production, treatment technologies, and financial/economical parameters by country. For each data field, original Reference is available as well as the Data Reference Year which corresponds to the year of data collection, not necessarily the reference publication year. A Glossary containing the definitions of each data parameter is also given. A Comments/Notes field contains additional information pertinent to the data.

A general overview of the structure and data fields is presented below:

Region CODE
Country CODE
Country NAME

GENERAL

General country profile information is provided to evaluate wastewater re-use potential as well as variables related to agriculture, water withdrawal.

• Population estimated
  • total (1000)
  • urban (1000)
  • rural (1000)
  • urban (%)
  • rural (%)
• Total Area of the country (1000 ha)
• Irrigated Area (1000 ha)
• Access to improved water source (% of population)
  • total
  • urban
  • rural
• Access to improved sanitation facilities (% of population)
  • total
  • urban
  • rural
• Water Withdrawal
  • total (Million m3/yr)
  • domestic (Million m3/yr)
  • % domestic
  • industrial (Million m3/yr)
  • % industrial
  • agricultural (Million m3/yr)
  • % agricultural

WASTEWATER PRODUCTION & TREATMENT

The Production of wastewater from different sources is presented in this section along with a detailed analysis of Treatment processes, varying from quantitative information (treated volume) to qualitative information (treatment plant specifications).

• Produced wastewater volume (Million m3/yr)
  • total
  • domestic
  • industrial
  • others
• Treated wastewater volume (Million m3/yr)
• Number of existing treatment plants
  • conventional
  • non conventional
• Total treatment plants capacity (Million m3/yr)
• Treatment processes
  • - Preliminary treatment
  • - Primary treatment
  • - Secondary treatment
  • - Tertiary treatment and/or advanced treatment
  • - Natural/Biological Treatment
  • - Disinfection
  • - Effluent Storage
  • - Others

Table1: Treatment process and technology classifications

WASTEWATER RE-USE

The Re-use section presents information on the effective wastewater recycled for irrigation or other purposes. Additional qualitative information is provided on the agricultural wastewater re-use such as irrigation methods and crops grown with wastewater.

• Treated wastewater volume re-used (Million m3/yr)
• Irrigated areas with raw and treated wastewater (% of tot. irrigated area)
• Irrigation methods used with wastewater
• Crops irrigated with wastewater
• Wastewater use other than irrigation
• Reports on adverse health and/or environment impacts due to re-use of wastewater

NATIONAL ORGANIZATION

Specific organization for each country's wastewater management information is presented in this field. The information collected refers to responsible institutions and authorities for each country as well as known country focal points.

• Institutions /Authorities
• Focal points (names and addresses)
• Legislation/Guidelines/Norms
• Facilities (laboratories, equipment)

PROJECTS

Current and future projects in the field of wastewater that may relate to infrastructure, treatment plants, and investment are provided in this data field.

• Planned population to be served by sanitation facilities
• Planned treatment plants and re-use
• Research and monitoring programs

FINANCIAL/ECONOMIC DATA

This data field provides general information on the value of wastewater and a collection of country-related publications or references for further information.

• Median Freshwater price (USD/m3)
• Median Wastewater price (USD/m3)
• Wastewater Financial/Economic Studies and Investment Information