Wastewater – An untapped resource? Report of a study by the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering.

Abstract

Population growth, increasing demand for natural resources, rising costs and community expectations place a confluence of pressures to manage natural resources, and on the water industry to develop innovative and more efficient processes. Phosphorus, nitrogen and energy are necessary for life and continued extraction of non-renewable forms of these resources is ultimately not possible. Notwithstanding these important sustainability issues, this report is focussed on the financial aspects of resource recovery from the point of view of an investor. The analysis only touches briefly on the externalities associated with non-renewable resource depletion and does not attempt to value these externalities. The focus of the analysis is on financial return on investment. Wastewater contains nutrients, carbon, energy and other inorganic and organic resources. Approximate ultimate quantities and resource values for energy, nitrogen, and phosphorous are shown in Table 1 at different scales, taking only the actual resourcequantum into account and not the costs of its extraction.