GLOBAL WASTEWATER INITIATIVE Newsletter issue #11 - June 2025

GWWI UPDATES

Our Ocean Conference holds panel on reducing marine pollution of all kinds, including wastewater

The Ocean Action Panel 4 was held at the 2025 UN Ocean Conference in Nice, France on 10 June on preventing and significantly reducing marine pollution of all kinds, in particular from land-based activities. During the event, UNEP’s Executive Director, Inger Andersen, emphasized the need to address wastewater reuse and nutrient pollution as part of integrated solutions. Scaling cleaner production practices, investing in pollution-reduction technologies, and enhancing capacity-building through innovative financing will be vital to tackling marine pollution. The Conference builds on momentum from previous UN Ocean Conferences in 2017 and 2022 and seeks to move from concepts to actionable, operational strategies—supporting effective source-to-sea approaches and leveraging platforms like the Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities and Regional Seas Conventions.

Wastewater Surveillance For Africa Initiative

From February to May 2025, UNEP, in collaboration with ILRI, WHO, and supported by the EU’s Health Emergency Preparedness and Response Authority (HERA), convened a series of high-level workshops in Nairobi and Johannesburg to advance wastewater surveillance for environmental and public health across Africa. These events brought together experts and government representatives from over 25 countries in Eastern and Southern Africa to exchange knowledge, build regional capacity, and co-develop harmonized roadmaps. Key topics included early disease detection, ecosystem protection, surveillance at ports of entry, innovative monitoring technologies, and strategies to reduce pollution. The workshops form part of UNEP’s broader Wastewater Surveillance for Africa (WWS) initiative, promoting sustainable, regionally coordinated surveillance systems grounded in One Health principles.

Event Page: Eastern Africa Regional Workshop on Wastewater Surveillance for Environmental and Public Health | 20 to 22 May 2025, Nairobi, Kenya

Event Page: Southern Africa Regional Workshop on Wastewater Surveillance for Environmental and Public Health | 8 - 10 April 2025 in Johannesburg, South Africa

Event Page: Stakeholder engagement workshop: Capacity building on sustainable wastewater surveillance for ecosystems and human health | 26 - 27 February 2025, Nairobi, Kenya

UNEP and UN-Habitat Advance Wastewater and Sanitation Dialogue in Malaysia’s Coastal Communities

Under the auspices of the ongoing joint initiative in Malaysia on "Enhancing Wastewater, Nutrient Management and Sanitation Provision for Coastal Communities", UNEP and UN-Habitat had the opportunity to organise a few events bringing together various relevant stakeholders, including federal and local ministries, private sector, water and wastewater utility operators, in a networking exchange and a roundtable discussion on aging infrastructure and aging workforce in Kuala Lumpur with rich discussions between these stakeholders. Further, the team also co-organised a workshop to share status of activities and global case studies with the local sewerage service department, followed by a field trip to the site of intervention in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah accompanied by the Director of the Sabah State Sewerage Services department. This phase of the initiative will conclude on 31 July for which a final workshop is being planned.

New Guidance on Cutting GHG Emissions from Wastewater Systems

UNEP, in partnership with UNEP-DHI, is working on a technical guidance to support professionals and policymakers in identifying effective solutions for reducing greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from wastewater systems. This comprehensive resource will provide a global overview of emissions from various wastewater management practices and offers practical guidance through use cases, technology assessments, and a catalogue of actionable solutions. It will highlight opportunities for mitigation through system planning, process optimization, energy efficiency, and resource recovery, including nature-based and low-technology approaches. Designed to align with the goals of NDC 3.0, the guidance aims to advance sustainable, climate-resilient wastewater management and is targeted at climate and wastewater practitioners, treatment plant operators, and regulatory decision-makers.

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UN-Habitat: Masterclass on Sanitation and Wastewater Management in Cities and Human Settlements

UN-Habitat has launched an online masterclass to widen the reach of its Global Report on Sanitation and Wastewater Management in Cities and Human Settlements. The global report provides a global reference on wastewater and faecal sludge management in urban settings, drawing on a mapping of 18 focus cities in Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America. The Masterclass, developed together with Water and Sanitation for Urban Populations (WSUP) and EAWAG – Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, consist of 7, 10-minute YouTube videos summarizing the report’s key messages. A 6-part webinar series bringing together global wastewater experts and city authorities covered in the report have been launched to popularize the Masterclass. The webinars will run from May – July 2025.

Improving the detection and monitoring of AMR in communities through environmental surveillance in Kenya

Washington State University, in collaboration with the Kenya Medical Research Institute and the Association of Public Health Laboratories, is leading a vital surveillance project aimed at enhancing the detection and monitoring of antimicrobial-resistant enteric pathogens in Kibera (urban Nairobi) and Asembo (rural Western Kenya). This initiative emphasizes the evaluation of the prevalence of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Escherichia coli (ESBL E. coli) in environmental water sources. E. coli is a gut bacterium that contributes to disease burden in humans and serves as an indicator of faecal contamination of water. ESBL E. coli are markers for environmental transmission and the growing issue of antibiotic resistance. Initial results from a baseline study revealed that these bacteria were detected in over 70% of sampled sites in Kibera and more than 50% in Asembo. These findings underscore the importance of this surveillance in informing containment measures and guiding further monitoring efforts within the study communities.

Washbox: Revolutionizing liquid waste management in the construction industry

In the period from January 2025 to 17 May 2025 Washbox was deployed on 61 major construction projects globally. Our units recorded 661,704 litres of water saved through recycling, 33 tonnes of construction materials washed from tools such as paint, plaster grout and adhesives was recovered from the washwater by the Washbox filters including 575 million microplastics. All that adds up to a staggering 694, 127 litres of liquid waste pollution eliminated, prevented from being discharged to the sewers from where it would make its way to the environment. Washbox prevents the discharge of construction chemical materials washed from tools during work from entering the environment as liquid wastewater, purifying and recycling the washwater at the source after automatic removal of the waste materials as a solid for proper safe handling.

IOM: Reeds of Hope in Iraq

Prolonged drought and water pollution in the marshlands of southern Iraq has resulted in significant displacement of the local population. To help alleviate this, UNEP in partnership with IOM are establishing a pilot treatment wetland system for recycling wastewater in Islah, Thi-Qar Governorate. The system will provide sewage treatment for around 35-40% of Islah town, around 30,000 people. The demonstration aims to provide a scalable model of a cost-effective and low maintenance nature-based solution which can reduce pollution loads and increase water supply to sustain natural wetlands and support agricultural livelihoods. It will be launched in July 2025.

Catch up with the April 2025 updates from the World Water Quality Alliance

From fresh insights on global water modelling to the push for better groundwater monitoring—the WWQA’s April 2025 newsletter is packed with updates that show how science, policy, and partnership are shaping the future of water quality. Dive in to see how the Alliance is driving real change across continents.

Global Virus Network (GVN): Advancing Wastewater-based Epidemiology (WBE)

The Global Virus Network (GVN) is advancing wastewater-based epidemiology (WBE) as a transformative approach to disease surveillance. With research centers spanning Europe, the Caribbean, the U.S., and beyond, GVN members are at the forefront of developing innovative, real-time public health monitoring systems that are reshaping the future of epidemiology.

At the Centre Scientifique de Monaco, a GVN Affiliate led by Dr. Thomas Althaus, a national surveillance program screens wastewater weekly for high-priority viruses. The data are shared directly with Monaco’s Health Department, enabling rapid, evidence-based public health responses.In the Caribbean, the GVN Affiliate at the University of the West Indies (UWI) Mona Campus, led by Dr. Joshua Anzinger, focuses on enhancing detection sensitivity and aligning treatment outputs with regional surveillance needs, contributing to antimicrobial resistance (AMR) management. The GVN Affiliate at St. George's University (SGU) in Grenada, led by Dr. Calum Macpherson, has optimized viral recovery techniques and demonstrated WBE's effectiveness for community-level AMR surveillance. The University of Miami contributes to the growth of this field through interdisciplinary research in the United States. Dr. Mario Stevenson, GVN Center of Excellence Director at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine AIDS Institute, and GVN Action Committee member, Dr. Helena Solo-Gabriele in the College of Engineering, have linked wastewater SARS-CoV-2 levels to student absenteeism. Their team has also validated a portable device that enables real-time, localized surveillance.

Together, these initiatives demonstrate how wastewater has evolved into a critical public health dataset, offering a non-invasive, real-time window into community health and serving as early warning systems for global well-being

Peixe Vivo Agency Expands Access to Sanitation Services in Rural Areas of Brazil

The Peixe Vivo Agency (Agência Peixe Vivo – APV), acting as the executive branch of the São Francisco River Basin Committee (CBHSF), coordinates the Rural Sanitation Program, aligned with the Watershed Plan (PRH-SF 2016–2025). This program aims to expand access to sanitation services in rural areas, supporting universal sanitation coverage and water quality improvements, in line with Goal II of the PRH-SF, which targets 76% of rural households in the watershed.

Currently, the program has supported 1,621 families across 12 municipalities in the Brazilian states of Alagoas, Bahia, and Minas Gerais, including indigenous and quilombola communities. Locally adapted, decentralized solutions were implemented, such as composting dry toilets, sanitation modules, banana circles, and evapotranspiration tanks (TEvap).

Significant environmental and societal outcomes have been achieved including reduced contamination of soil and groundwater and improvements in sanitation conditions in historically vulnerable semi-arid regions. Linked to the national Brazil Rural Sanitation Plan (PSBR), the program fosters community participation and applies integrated technical guidelines. This initiative aligns with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 6 on clean water and sanitation. With an investment of nearly R$ 29 million, this initiative reinforces CBHSF’s and APV's commitment to inclusive, place-based, and sustainable rural sanitation management.

UNEP DHI Highlight Wastewater at the Ukraine Green Recovery Platform Stakeholder Forum

Following the successful launch of the publication "Sustainable Wastewater Management as a Pillar for the Sustainable Reconstruction of Ukraine" in spring 2025, the report by the UNEP-DHI Centre has now been officially endorsed by the Government of Ukraine.

Recognizing wastewater as a valuable resource, the report outlines how sustainable wastewater management can play a key role in addressing several of Ukraine’s most urgent challenges. These include enabling decentralized energy solutions, availability of agricultural fertilizers, improving water quality and quality of life, and aligning national policies and regulations with EU standards.

The report’s findings and potential next steps were presented at the Ukraine Green Recovery Platform stakeholder forum, held on 7 April 2025 in Kiev.

UNEP Ukraine and the UNEP-DHI Centre continue to facilitate bilateral discussions between partners —including IGOs, IFIs, and national governments - and the Ukrainian ministries. These efforts are aimed at providing technical support on the pathway to implement a national wastewater management strategy as an integral part of Ukraine’s sustainable reconstruction and recovery plans.

Innovative Village-Level Wastewater Solutions Advancing the Circular Economy

Across India, several community-driven models are demonstrating how simple, natural systems can effectively treat wastewater and contribute to a circular economy. Notable among these are the SEECHEWAL and SHEFROL models, pioneered by Sant Shri Balbir Singh Seechewal in Punjab and Prof. S.A. Abbasi in Puducherry, respectively. These approaches use low-cost, eco-friendly techniques to treat village wastewater, enabling the reuse of treated water for irrigation. Their successful implementation in villages across Punjab, Puducherry, and Uttar Pradesh—including SHEFROL’s adoption in Hariyawan village (Hardoi) by the DCM Foundation—showcases their scalability and impact.

In Betul district, Madhya Pradesh, a household-level biogas model illustrates how toilet wastewater (blackwater) can be transformed into clean energy. By combining blackwater with cow dung, biogas is produced in sufficient quantities to meet the daily cooking needs of a small family—offering a practical example of rural resource recovery.

Similarly, in Aandhi village, Jaipur district, a project led by Prof. Sudipti Arora introduced constructed wetlands to treat greywater before it flows into a nearby pond. This not only protects the local ecosystem but also highlights the power of decentralized nature-based solutions.

These case studies exemplify how grassroots innovation, trust, and strong community partnerships are advancing circularity in rural sanitation—creating resilient, sustainable models for wastewater management.