An Overview of Wastewater Treatment and Reuse in The Gulf Cooperation Council Countries

Abstract

The human population generates a substantial amount of waste, and if it is discarded without any treatment it can lead to environmental degradation. This is commonly executed by discharging substantial amount of untreated wastewater in the waterways. Wastewater can be generated from numerous locations but for this review the principal areas concerned are municipalities and industries. The focus of the current study relies on performing a thorough review on expressing the benefits of treating wastewater, assessing Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) reuse regulations associated with wastewater reuse, identifying different wastewater treatment technologies, and evaluating previous research implemented on this field across the GCC region. Various case studies about treatment technologies and reuse regulations are analyzed in this review for each country within the GCC. The findings show that treating wastewater holds many benefits such as reducing environmental pollution and can aid in helping nations with limited access to fresh water to meet their demand. The technologies for treating wastewater are discussed, such as: conventional filtration, chemical, biological treatment, and different membrane technologies. The review conveys that although treating water has many benefits, there are still many challenges associated with the cost, public perception, and management policies that need to be resolved. To improve wastewater treatment policies effective management can show greater potential for mitigating the freshwater shortage in the GCC countries. Also, since each GCC country has different policies regarding wastewater management, more research should be conducted in the future to adapt as the GCC territory is competing to produce new wastewater treatment plants to accommodate their growing demand for fresh water.