World Water Development Report 2017: wastewater - the untapped resource

This report shows that improved wastewater management is as much about reducing pollution at the source, as removing contaminants from wastewater flows, reusing reclaimed water and recovering useful by-products

The 2017 edition of the United Nations WWDR, the forth in a series of annual, theme-oriented reports, addresses an often overlooked issue that is critical to water resources management and the provision of basic water-related services: wastewater. Maximizing wastewater's potential as a valuable and sustainable resource requires creation of enabling environment for change, including suitable legal and regulatory framework, appropriate financing mechanisms and social acceptance. With a political will to do so the current obstacles, such as lack of knowledge, capacity, data and information on wastewater, can be effectively overcome.