Access to improved sanitation facilities
Access to improved water source
Crops irrigated with wastewater
Facilities
Institutions/authorities
Irrigated area
Irrigated areas with raw and treated wastewater
Irrigation method used with wastewater
Legislation/guidelines/norms
Median freshwater price
Median wastewater price
Number of existing treatment plants
Planned population to be served by sanitation facilities
Planned treatment plants and reuse
Population
Produced wastewater volume
Reports on adverse health and/or environment impacts due to reuse of wastewater
Research and monitoring programs
Total area of the country
Total treatment plants capacity
Treated wastewater volume
Treated wastewater volume reused
Treatment processes
Wastewater financial/economic studies and investment information
Wastewater use other than irrigation
Water withdrawal

Related On-line Glossaries

European Environmental Agency
FAO-Terminology
FAO-Land and Water Terms
Septic Glossary
UN Environment Glossary

1. Population estimated

- Total population (1000)

The total population usually refers to the present-in-area (de facto) population which includes all persons physically present within the present geographical boundaries of countries at the mid-point of the reference period.

- Urban population (1000)
- Rural population (1000)
- Urban population (%)
- Rural population (%)

Usually the urban area is defined and the residual from the total population is taken as rural. In practice, the criteria adopted for distinguishing between urban and rural areas vary among countries. However, these criteria can be roughly divided into three major groups: classification of localities of a certain size as urban; classification of administrative centres of minor civil divisions as urban; and classification of centres of minor civil divisions on a chosen criterion which may include type of local government, number of inhabitants or proportion of population engaged in agriculture. Thus, the urban and rural population estimates in this domain are based on the varying national definitions of urban areas.

The % values are calculated on the Total and Urban/Rural values.

Source: FAOSTAT

2. Total Area of the country (1000 ha)
The total area of the country, including area under inland water bodies. Data in this category are obtained mainly from the United Nations Statistical Division, New York. Possible variations in the data may be due to updating and revisions of the country data and not necessarily to any change of area.

Source: FAOSTAT

3. Irrigated Area (1000 ha)
Data on irrigation relate to areas equipped to provide water to the crops. These include areas equipped for full and partial control irrigation, spate irrigation areas, and equipped wetland or inland valley bottoms.
The following are specific country notes:
China: Data on irrigated area cover farmland only (area under orchard and pastures are excluded).
Cuba: Data refer to State sector only.
Japan; Korea, Republic of; Sri Lanka: Data refer to irrigated rice only.

Source: FAOSTAT

4. Access to improved water source (% of population with access)

Access to an improved water source refers to the percentage of the population with reasonable access to an adequate amount of water from an improved source, such as a household connection, public stand-pipe, borehole, protected well or spring, and rainwater collection. Unimproved sources include vendors, tanker trucks, and unprotected wells and springs. Reasonable access is defined as the availability of at least 20 liters a person a day from a source within one kilometer of the dwelling.

Access to safe drinking water was determined by percentage of population using "improved" water sources.

Improved

> household connection
> public standpipe
> borehole
> protected dug well
> protected spring
> rainwater collection

Not improved:

> unprotected well
> unprotected spring
> vendor provided water
> tanker truck water

Source: World Development Indicator 2002 CD matching with Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation. WHO, Reference year 2000

5. Access to improved sanitation facilities (% of population with access)

Access to improved sanitation facilities refers to the percentage of the population with at least adequate excreta disposal facilities (private or shared, but not public) that can effectively prevent human, animal, and insect contact with excreta. Improved facilities range from simple but protected pit latrines to flush toilets with a sewerage connection. To be effective, facilities must be correctly constructed and properly maintained.

Access to adequate sanitation facilities was determined by percentage of population using "improved" sanitation.

Improved
> connection to a public sewer
> connection to a septic system
> pour-flush latrine
> simple pit latrine
> ventilated improved pit latrine

Not improved

> service or bucket latrines (where
excreta are manually removed)
> shared and public latrines
> latrines with an open pit

Source: World Development Indicator 2002 CD matching with Joint Monitoring Program for Water Supply and Sanitation. WHO, Reference year 2000

6. Water Withdrawal

- total (Million m3/yr)

Annual quantity of water withdrawn for agricultural, industrial and domestic purposes. Total water withdrawal is either available by itself (if no desegregation is available by sectors of use) or can be calculated as the sum of the three categories: agricultural, domestic and industrial. It does not include other categories of water use, such as for cooling of power plants, mining, recreation, navigation, fisheries, etc., which are sectors that are characterised by a very low consumption rate.

The % are calculated as contribution to the total withdrawal from the different sectors.

- domestic (Million m3/yr)
- % domestic
- industrial (Million m3/yr)
- % industrial
- agricultural (Million m3/yr)
- % agricultural

Agricultural water withdrawal

Annual quantity of water used for agricultural purposes including irrigation and livestock watering. If the breakdown is available, put the figures in the comments (if livestock water use is accounted in domestic water withdrawal, please indicate it in the comments).
Methods for computing agricultural water withdrawal vary from country to country. Figure could be reviewed for each country on the basis of crop water requirements and irrigated areas, and comments should be added in the country profiles to explain the figure when necessary.
In some cases, rural water supply is included in this category, in which case it should be mentioned in the comments. If a separate figure is available for rural water supply, it should be added to urban water supply and reported in the related line.

Domestic water withdrawal

Annual quantity of water used for domestic purpose. It is usually computed as the total water withdrawn by public distribution network. It can include that part of the industries, which are connected to the network, in which case it should be mentioned in the comments.

Industrial water withdrawal

Usually, this sector refers to self-supplied industries not connected to any distribution network. (If all industrial water use is included in the domestic water use category, please indicate it in the comments)

Source: AQUASTAT [variables: 4250, 4251, 4252, 4253, 4254, 4255, 4256]

7. Produced wastewater volume (no drainage water from agriculture) (Million m3/yr)

- total

Annual quantity of waste water produced in the country indicated by the quantity of water that has been polluted by adding waste or heat to a water course. The origin can be domestic use (used water from bathing, toilets, cooking etc.) or industrial use. It does not include agricultural waste water.
The total sum should correspond to the sum of domestic+industrial+others, even if in many cases the contribution from "other" sources is neglectable.

- domestic (Million m3/yr)

Annual quantity of wastewater produced by domestic origin only, such as bathing, toilets, cooking, etc. .

- industrial (Million m3/yr)

Annual quantity of wastewater produced by industrial activities.

- others (Million m3/yr)

Annual quantity of wastewater produced by any other origin other than domestic and industrial, like mining, fishery, recreational, etc. .

Source: AQUASTAT [variable 4269]

8. Treated wastewater volume (Million m3/yr) (unit different from km3/yr in Aquastat)

Quantity of produced wastewater that is treated in a given year, discharged from a treatment plant (effluent).

Source: AQUASTAT [variable 4270]

9. Number of existing treatment plants

- conventional (Million m3/yr)
- non conventional (Million m3/yr)

The total number of treatment plants present in the country.

Wastewater Treatment plant: (1) Plant where, through physical-chemical and biological processes, organic matter, bacteria, viruses and solids are removed from residential, commercial and industrial wastewaters before they are discharged in rivers, lakes and seas. (2) Installations to render wastewater, sludge, storm water or cooling water fit to meet applicable environmental standards or other quality norms for recycling or reuse. Wastewater treatment does not include collection of sewage or storm waters, even when no treatment will be possible without collection.

The treatment plants can be subdivided into 2 categories according to the processes: conventional and non-conventional.

Conventional wastewater treatment consists of a combination of physical, chemical and biological processes and operations to remove solids, organic matters and, sometimes, nutrients from wastewater.
This process is usually high technology and cost but low land use impact. General terms used to describe different degrees of treatment are preliminary, primary, secondary and tertiary and/or advanced. Sometimes the all process is followed by disinfection to remove pathogens.
Effluent storage, although not considered a step in the treatment process is in most cases a critical link from wastewater treatment plant and irrigation system. (See also Preliminary, Primary, Secondary, Tertiary and/or Advanced, Disinfection and Effluent Storage definitions).

Non-conventional wastewater treatment is also commonly known as natural-biological treatment.(See Natural/biological treatment technologies definition).
Natural low-rate biological treatment systems for the treatment of municipal sewage tend to be less costly and sophisticated in operation and maintenance than the high-rate biological processes mentioned above. Although such processes tend to be land intensive by comparison with the above mentioned conventional treatments, they may be more effective in removing pathogens if properly designed and not overloaded.

Source: FAOSTAT, AQUASTAT, FAO paper 47/ 1992

10. Total treatment plants capacity (Million m3/yr)

Total maximum annual volume of water that the treatment plant can process. It's the estimated or calculated volume for the all plants present in the country. Many times it can happen that plants are not working at the highest possible rate so the "Treated wastewater volume" will result in a figure smaller than " Total treatment plants capacity" volume.

11. Treatment processes

12. Treated wastewater volume reused (Million m3/yr)

Annual quantity of wastewater that is reused in a given year. This water is not specifically related to reuse in agriculture, if this data is available please add it as a comment.

Source: AQUASTAT [ variable 4265]

13. Irrigated areas with raw and treated wastewater (% of tot. irrigated area)

The percentage of area specified in the column "Total Area irrigated in the country" that is usually irrigated with wastewater. To get the total idea ('weight') of wastewater use in irrigation for a specific country and its impact, no distinctions is done between raw and treated effluents.
If specific data available please add it as a comment.

14. Irrigation method used with wastewater

Qualitative description of the irrigation method used with wastewater: surface irrigation, flooding , furrow, drip, sprinkler, etc. ….

15. Crops irrigated with wastewater

Qualitative description of the crops irrigated with wastewater. It can be more general, i.e. industrial crops, animal feed, vegetables, orchards, arboriculture, or it can be specified each crops, i.e. tomatoes, carrot, maize, rice, fodder, olive trees … .

16. Wastewater use other than irrigation

Qualitative description of all the uses different from crops growing. In many countries wastewater is also used as valuable resources to decrease groundwater table lowering (aquifer recharge); to combat the desertification( green belts, dune fixation): to water green area used for recreational activities ( parks, golf courts, city gardens); to use in industry as recycled water (cooling systems); to create wetlands.

17. Reports on adverse health and/or environment impacts due to reuse of wastewater

Literature references, studies or reports on health impacts, mainly water-borne diseases incidence in the country, connected to wastewater reuse in agriculture or environmental impacts, as possible soil salinization due to high electro-conductivity in the effluents (mainly in countries with significant evaporation rates) or aquifer contamination due to non-point source pollution from agricultural fields.

18. Institutions/Authorities

List of the Authorities or Institutions responsible for wastewater production, distribution, treatment , reuse, monitoring. It can include local authorities or agencies, regional boards, ministries or in charge institutions.

19. Legislation/Guidelines/Norms

List of implemented regulations for the treatment and reuse of wastewater, also including the possible environmental impact. If no specific country guidelines or legislation is in force please specify if they are under planning, or if any other guideline/legislation/norm is taken as reference.

20. Facilities

List of the facilities, like laboratories and equipments, available for wastewater analysis and monitoring.

21. Planned population to be served by sanitation facilities

Percentage of the population or number of inhabitants planned to be served in the future (if possible specify the year) by improved sanitation facilities (see " improved sanitation facilities") .

22. Planned treatment plants and reuse

Number of treatment plants planned to be build in the future, or that are already under construction but not yet working. Specify also the treatment plant capacity or the Treated volume predicted.
Specify if any other use, different from the list under "Crops irrigated with wastewater" and "Wastewater use other than irrigation" is programmed.

23. Research and monitoring programs

List of the Research and Monitoring programs active in the countries on wastewater treatment and reuse and its impact. If it is possible specify the responsible agency/institution/organization, the project period, the investment, if any report has been produced.

24. Median Freshwater Price (USD/m3)

Price charged to buy freshwater as average value in the country. If different values are charged for drinking purposes and irrigation uses please specify it as a comment. If not median value is possible, please give the value and specify the details as a comment.

25. Median Wastewater Price (USD/m3)

Price charged to buy wastewater as average value in the country. If not median value is possible, please give the value and specify the details as a comment.

26. Wastewater Financial/Economic studies and Investment information

Literature references, studies or reports on financial/economical aspects of the wastewater production treatment and reuse, charging/taxation policy to the producer and the user, benefits value in reusing wastewater instead of freshwater, starting from saving freshwater to less fertilizers use due to high nutrients content in the effluent, investment information (including total investment or detailed costs, like O&M cost).