Path toward Sustainability in Wastewater Management in Brazil

Abstract

Developing countries have not carried out the adequate management of wastewater and are a long way off meeting the sustainability goal of universal access to safely managed sanitation services by 2030. This article discusses sustainability in wastewater management and conducts a narrative literature review to analyze four stages on the path toward sustainability: (1) the prevention of or reduction in pollution at the source; (2) wastewater collection and treatment; (3) using wastewater as an alternative source of water; and (4) the recovery of useful by-products. It also provides an overview of wastewater management in Brazil and shows the advantages of using wastewater to produce biofuel in a country in which 48.3% of energy production comes from renewable sources.