Assessment of Wastewater Reuse in Kuwait and Its Impact on Amounts of Pollutants Discharged into the Sea
- 1 Environmental Technology Management and Department, College for Women, Kuwait University, Kuwait
- 2 Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Water Resources Division, Water Technologies Department, Kuwait
- 3 Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Water Resources Division, Water Technologies Department, Kuwait
Abstract
Kuwait has recently implemented a vigorous campaign that aims to reclaim and reuse all treated wastewater in an at- tempt to alleviate water scarcity problem and to preserve seawater quality. This paper assesses the present status of wastewater treatment, reclamation and reuse in Kuwait, and discusses the impact of wastewater reuse on the amounts of pollutants discharged into the sea. Through analysis of the historical records of the wastewater treatment plants, it has been found that reuse of reclaimed wastewater in Kuwait has greatly reduced the amounts of pollutants discharged into the sea. Results showed that more than 50% reduction in volumes of wastewater discharged into the sea had been achieved from year 2000 to year 2010. However, this study has predicted that the amounts of wastewater discharged into the sea will start increasing again by the year 2020 due to shortages of storage capacity for reclaimed wastewater and due to the limitation of wastewater reuse applications to basically agricultural and landscape irrigations. In contrary, the on-going works and future plans of the Ministry of Public Works (MPW) are expected to overcome this problem and lead to a zero discharge of wastewater into the sea.
- M. A. Razzaque, “Master Plan for Development of Kuwait’s Agricultural Sector (1995-2005),” Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Appendix IV, Vol. 5, AG-67, Report No. KISR 4615, Kuwait, 1995.
- WHO, “Guidelines for the Safe Use of Wastewater, Excreta and Grey Water,” Vol. 2, Wastewater Use in Agriculture, World Health Organization, France, 2006.
- MetCalf and Eddy, “Wastewater Engineering Treatment, Disposal, Reuse,” 3rd edition, McGraw-Hill Publishing Company, Ltd., New York, 2003.
- F. Ghobrial, M. Lionel, B. Patel and A. Awad, “Assessment of Raw Sewage and Treated Effluents Characteristics in Kuwait”, Final Report, KISR 2468, Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Kuwait, 1987.
- MPW, “Treatment Plant Data,” (Personal Communication, MPW Staff), 2006.
- I. Al-Ghusain, “Use of Treated Wastewater for Concrete Mixing in Kuwait,” Kuwait Journal of Science and Engineering, Vol. 30, No. 1, 2003, pp. 213-228.
- A. Abusam, “Reuse of Greywater in Kuwait,” Interna- tional Journal of Environmental Studies, Vol. 65, No. 1, 2008, pp. 103-108. doi:10.1080/00207230701868204
- Parsons, “Kuwait Sanitary Master Plan,” Parsons Engi- neering Science, Inc. and Gulf Consult, Kuwait, 2002.
- MPW, “Wastewater Reuse Plans,” (Personal Communi- cation, MPW Staff), 2011.
- A. M. Shahalam, S. Al-Shammari, A. Abusam and H. Al-Naser “Present and Future Wastewater Quantities and Reuse Demand in Kuwait,” Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, KISR 8954R, Kuwait, 2008.
- H. Al-Rashidi, A. M. Shahalam and S. Alam, “Centra- lized Management of Treated Wastewater Reuse in Kuwait: Collection, Storage and Distribution,” Proceedings of the 7th Gulf Water Conference, Water in the GCC— Towards an Integrated Management, Kuwait, 19-23 November 2005, pp. 633-643.
- G. Mancini, C. Barone, P. Roccaro and F. G. A. Vagliasindi, “The Beneficial Effects of Storage on the Quality of Wastewater for Irrigation: A Case Study in Sicily,” Water Science and Technology, Vol. 55, 2007, pp. 417-424. doi:10.2166/wst.2007.042
- S. Barbagallo, G.L. Cirelli, S. Consoli and F. Somma “Wastewater Quality Improvement through Storage: A Case Study in Sicily,” Water Science and Technology, Vol. 47, 2003, pp. 169-176.