1.

INTRODUCTION
Rising water needs for urban areas, agriculture, industry and the environment, are
creating
competition over the allocation of scarce water resources. The supply of freshwater
is fnite
and threatened by pollution. To avoid a crisis, many countries must conserve water,
pollute
less, manage supply and demand and reduce the impact of growing population. In
these
circumstances, recycled water is a valuable resource.
Appropriately treated recycled water can be reused to reduce the demand on high
quality
freshwater sources. Water recycling increases the availability of water supply,
reduces
vulnerability to droughts and enables greater human beneft with less use of fresh
water. y
reducing the need for fresh water and wastewater discharges, water recycling has
the
potential to ma!e a substantial contribution to meeting human water needs, and
lessening
man!ind"s impact on the world"s water environment.
2. HISTORY OF URBAN SEWERAGE SYSTEM
The earliest urban sewerage systems were constructed to only transport e#cess
overland
rainwater as quic!ly as possible from a city to rivers that were downstream from the
city
(Aminuddin et al., 2000; Angelakis et al., 2005). The $ush toilet was invented in the
%&th
century and became widespread throughout the cities of 'urope in the %(th century.
The
widespread use of $ush toilets improved the sanitation conditions of urban
residents, but
the amount of water supply and sewerage required as a result increased
dramatically. At
this time, the sewer and run)o* sewerage systems were constructed as a combined
sewerage system.The function of the urban sewerage system changed to this
combined
system to protect the inhabitants from bacterial infection as the ma+or component
of
sanitary engineering.,owever, rivers and la!es near cities became terribly polluted
during
this period because of large amount of untreated wastewater containing feces and
urine.
Research and practices of wastewater treatment technology began in the early -.th
century with a starting condition in which the rivers and la!es were badly polluted.
/uring
the past century, the technologies associated with wastewater treatment advanced
dramatically with the removal of pollutants, including suspended solids and
organics,
subsequently nitrogen and phosphates and fnally micropollutants, such as
disinfection
byproducts and hormone)li!e substances 0,en1e, %((23. 4urrently, the functions of
urban
sewerage systems are as follows5
i. Transport rainwater and wastewater outside a city as soon as possible to protect
against $oods and prevent the spread of epidemics6
ii. Treat municipal wastewater to reach or e#ceed the standards of state or local
regulations.
3. THE PATTERN OF SUSTAINABLE URBAN SEWERAGE SYSTEMS IN THE
21ST
CENTURY
The above)mentioned functions of urban sewerage systems were formed under the
hypothesis that water resources were abundant enough to splurge and that the
rivers or
la!es that wastewater was dumped into had enough capacity for self)purifcation.
This
hypothesis was supported when populations were not very large or centrali1ed and
industries were underdeveloped. As industries developed, people became
increasingly
centrali1ed and metropolitan areas emerged. At this time traditional urban
sewerage
systems could only protect the area within cities. The regions around the cities were
badly
polluted by wastewater and other wastes produced by the townspeople.
7rom the perspective of the restoration of entire watersheds, urban sewerage
systems are part of the overall hydrological cycle. The function of urban sewerage
systems
should be reevaluated and new missions should be espoused. 8rban sewerage
systems
should play an important role in a healthywater cycle and in sustainable urban
construction.
If we compare a city to a human body,water can be thought of as blood. Thewater
supply
system is analogous to the arteries and the wastewater system is analogous to the
veins. A
wastewater treatment plant could be considered as analogous to the liver because
of the
plant"s role in purifying urban wastewater. 8rban sewerage systems are of necessity
responsible for wastewater collection, transportation, purifcation and reclamation.
An
urban sewerage system is the !ey factor for closing the urban water cycle.