Water quality is a growing concern throughout the developing world. Drinking water sources are under increasing threat from contamination, with far-reaching consequences for the health of children and for the economic and social development of communities and nations.
Deteriorating water quality also threatens the Millennium Goals water target of halving the proportion of people without sustainable access to safe water. While the world is currently on track to meet the target in terms of numbers of sources constructed, it may not be on track if the quality of water in new sources is fully taken into account.
The chemical contamination of water supplies – both naturally occurring and from pollution – is a very serious problem. Arsenic and fluoride alone threaten the health of hundreds of millions of people. But more serious still is the microbiological contamination of drinking water supplies, especially from human faeces. Faecal contamination of drinking water is a major contributor to diarrhoeal disease, which kills millions of children every year. As populations, pollution and environmental degradation increase, so will the chemical and microbiological contamination of water supplies.
Treatment and valorisation of waste and wastewater for the production of energy and useful materials is a valuable contribution nowadays, to those goals, because waste and wastewater also constitute a threat of contamination for the aquifers and the courses of superficial waters. The application of different alternatives of physical-chemical and biological treatments cooperates to solve this serious problem, including the consideration of reuse.
At the same time, the assessment of the treatment by-products is important, either as source of renewable energy (biogas) or as a source of organic matter for the agriculture (sludge that are produced in the biological treatment systems).
Protecting water, a vital resource necessary for our daily lives, is a never-ending task for individuals, communities, countries, and as a global community of concerned citizens, specially in the 2005-2015 International Decade for Action 'Water for Life'.
Therefore, we would like to call for papers addressing research on water and waste management: characterization, treatment, by-products valorization and the related areas.
Suitable topics include but are not limited to:
- Water, wastewater and solid waste characterization
- Water, wastewater and solid waste treatment
- Chemical-physical treatments
- Biological treatments
- Wastewater reuse
- By-product recovery
- Sludge applications
- Biogas as renewable energy
Deadline for paper submission: 31 August 2010
First turn of papers review: 31 October 2010
Second turn of papers review: 30 November 2010
Final papers submission: 31 December 2010
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