State of the art of water consumption and wastewater reuse in developing countries

Dwindling freshwater resources and increasing demand have made continuous water supply a constant challenge for many countries. This problem is even worse for developing countries where the population is growing at an alarming rate and cities are becoming more and more urbanized. An overall water demand corresponds to the high quantity of wastewater produced, and its pollution are continuously increasing. Wastewater treatment and reuse have been recognized as important steps in ensuring sustainable supply of water resources. The dispersed body of literature casts shadow on the performance of developing countries on wastewater treatment and reuse. This paper reviewed water withdrawal and wastewater production, treatment, and reuse trends in developing countries focusing on Africa and Asia. Analysis of different water withdrawal and wastewater production reveals an increasing trend across developing countries. However, the treatment and reuse rate is very shady due to the unavailability of consistent data. There is an urgent need for developing countries to double their efforts to match production with treatment and reuse.