The use of wastewater for diverse applications is gaining popularity for protecting scarce freshwater resources. The global supply of freshwater is limited and is threatened by the masses. Communities are competing over the allocation of limited freshwater resources to meet the increasing demand for water for agriculture, industry and cities. Wastewater treatment units are being used to treat wastewater for irrigation, firefighting, and other domestic purposes. The environment and human health can be adversely affected if wastewater is not accurately treated. Treated wastewater if free from toxicity can help in preserving the natural environment. In the present work, the synchrotron-based Total Reflection X-ray Fluorescence (TXRF) has been used to assess the trace elements present in the treated wastewater collected from a sewerage treatment plant in the study area. The results are compared with the World Health Organization (WHO) recommended values and concluded that the concentration of all detected elements (Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu, Zn and Pb) are within permissible limits (except iron). Investigations are further incorporated in calculations of the water quality index (WQI) that is used for the treated water standards. The present WQI 82.70 lies in the good quality range 80-94 by Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME 2001) standards and does not pose any hazard to the environment, therefore, recommended for irrigation, toilet flushing, firefighting etc.

This study was conducted on the oldest water treatment plant in the city of Basra, which is the Al-Buradieiah Water Treatment Plant (BWTP) during the period from December 2017 to March 2018. The study aimed to evaluate the efficiency of the plant by calculating the efficiency of sedimentation, filtration and sterilization basins, as well as to examine the water quality by examining the physical and chemical characteristics of raw water and treated water in this plant and then compare it with the World Health Organization (WHO) and Iraqi standards. The results of this study showed that the efficiency of sedimentation basins is 54%, while the efficiency of filtration basins is 24% and sterilization efficiency ranging from 37 to 65%. As well as, laboratory results of treated water quality have also shown that the turbidity equal to (7.24 NTU), electrical conductivity (EC) equal to 5040 µS/cm, the total dissolved solids (TDS) equal to 3380 mg/L and the total suspended solids (TSS) equal to 190 mg/L of the water outside from the BWTP. All these water quality results are higher than the WHO and Iraqi standard limitations except the value of pH, which is 6.9 and within the permissible limits.

Using a unique dataset of 524 households from an urban hill town of Darjeeling in India, this study addresses two key issues of (a) determining the drivers of risk perception from water use, and (b) understanding whether water treatment decisions and choice of water sources are jointly made by the households. The results from probit model show that the age of the head, perception of the aesthetic qualities of water (odour and colour), education level of the head, the volume of improved water used, water treatment decision and expenditure on the water are the significant drivers of risk perception. The results of a rare investigation on the likelihood of the joint decision of treating water and choice of water source show that these decisions are indeed jointly made in the study area. Households decision to treat water from an unimproved source and the choice of improved water can be seen as substitutes.