Nature-based Solutions for Circular Management of Urban Water [1 ed.] 9783031507243, 9783031507250, 3031507258, 303150724X

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Circular Economy and Sustainability

Alexandros Stefanakis Hasan Volkan Oral Cristina Calheiros Pedro Carvalho Editors

Nature-based Solutions for Circular Management of Urban Water

Circular Economy and Sustainability Series Editors Alexandros Stefanakis, Technical University of Crete, Chania, Greece Ioannis Nikolaou, Democritus University of Thrace, Xanthi, Greece Editorial Board Members Julian Kirchherr, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands Dimitrios Komilis, Democritus University of Thrace, Xanthi, Greece Shu Yuan (Sean) Pan, National Taiwan University, Taipei, Taiwan Roberta Salomone, University of Messina, Messina, Italy

This book series aims at exploring the rising field of Circular Economy (CE) which is rapidly gaining interest and merit from scholars, decision makers and practitioners as the global economic model to decouple economic growth and development from the consumption of finite natural resources. This field suggests that global sustainability can be achieved by adopting a set of CE principles and strategies such as design out waste, systems thinking, adoption of nature-based approaches, shift to renewable energy and materials, reclaim, retain, and restore the health of ecosystems, return recovered biological resources to the biosphere, remanufacture products or components, among others. However, the increasing complexity of sustainability challenges has made traditional engineering, business models, economics and existing social approaches unable to successfully adopt such principles and strategies. In fact, the CE field is often viewed as a simple evolution of the concept of sustainability or as a revisiting of an old discussion on recycling and reuse of waste materials. However, a modern perception of CE at different levels (micro, meso, and macro) indicates that CE is rather a systemic tool to achieve sustainability and a new eco-effective approach of returning and maintaining waste in the production processes by closing the loop of materials. In this frame, CE and sustainability can be seen as a multidimensional concept based on a variety of scientific disciplines (e.g., engineering, economics, environmental sciences, social sciences). Nevertheless, the interconnections and synergies among the scientific disciplines have been rarely investigated in depth. One significant goal of the book series is to study and highlight the growing theoretical links of CE and sustainability at different scales and levels, to investigate the synergies between the two concepts and to analyze and present its realization through strategies, policies, business models, entrepreneurship, financial instruments and technologies. Thus, the book series provides a new platform for CE and sustainability research and case studies and relevant scientific discussion towards new system-wide solutions. Specific topics that fall within the scope of the series include, but are not limited to, studies that investigate the systemic, integrated approach of CE and sustainability across different levels and its expression and realization in different disciplines and fields such as business models, economics, consumer services and behaviour, the Internet of Things, product design, sustainable consumption & production, bio-economy, environmental accounting, industrial ecology, industrial symbiosis, resource recovery, ecosystem services, circular water economy, circular cities, nature-based solutions, waste management, renewable energy, circular materials, life cycle assessment, strong sustainability, and environmental education, among others.

Alexandros Stefanakis  •  Hasan Volkan Oral Cristina Calheiros  •  Pedro Carvalho Editors

Nature-based Solutions for Circular Management of Urban Water

Editors Alexandros Stefanakis School of Chemical and Environmental Engineering Technical University of Crete Chania, Greece Cristina Calheiros CIIMAR - Interdisciplinary Centre of Marine and Environmental Research University of Porto Porto, Portugal

Hasan Volkan Oral Department of Civil Engineering, Faculty of Engineering Istanbul Aydın University Istanbul, Türkiye Pedro Carvalho Department of Environmental Science Aarhus University Aarhus C, Denmark

ISSN 2731-5509     ISSN 2731-5517 (electronic) Circular Economy and Sustainability ISBN 978-3-031-50724-3    ISBN 978-3-031-50725-0 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-50725-0 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Switzerland AG The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland Paper in this product is recyclable.

Contents

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Circular Cities Solution with Biophilic Design and Nature-Based Solutions��������������������������������������������������������������������    1 Makbulenur Onur and Cengiz Acar

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The Role of Multipurpose NbS Interventions in Increasing the Circularity of Cities����������������������������������������������������   13 Behrouz Pirouz, Michele Turco, Stefania Anna Palermo, Anna Chiara Brusco, Behzad Pirouz, Hana Javadi Nejad, and Patrizia Piro

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Nature-Based Solutions for a Circular Water Economy: Examples of New Green Infrastructure������������������������������������������������   35 Alexandros Stefanakis

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Assessment of Urban Rain Gardens Within Climate Change Adaptation and Circularity Challenge������������������������������������   51 Kevser Karabay, Havva Öztürk, Eda Ceylan, and Derya Ayral Çınar

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The Employment of Rain Gardens in Urban Water Management to Improve Biodiversity and Ecosystem Resilience��������������������������������������������������   73 Makbulenur Onur

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A Study of Nature-Based Solutions via a Thematic Analysis of the Stakeholders’ Perceptions to Address Water Scarcity in a Hot and Semiarid Climate: A Case Study of Iran��������������������������������������������������������������������������������   93 Amir Gholipour, Leyla Beglou, and Seyed M. Heidari

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Achieving Sustainable Development Goals Through NGO-Led Women and Young Girls’ Empowerment Programs and Activities in Rural Communities: A Pilot Study from the Niger Republic��������������������������������������������������  113 Moussa Soulé, Ebru Nergiz, and Hamidou Taffa Abdoul-Azize

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Phytomining as a Nature-based Solution in the Cities of Albania����������������������������������������������������������������������������  131 Aida Bani, Dolja Pavlova, and Seit Shallari

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Nature-based Wastewater Treatment Systems: An Overview of the Challenges of Small Capacity Plants in an Urban Environment ����������������������������������������������������������������������  145 Supriya Balaji Deshpande

10 Bioremediation  of Wastewater from the Tanning Industry Under a Circular Economy Model ��������������������������������������������������������  169 Nayeli Montalvo-Romero, Aarón Montiel-Rosales, Luis Carlos Sandoval-­Herazo, and Rubén Purroy-Vásquez 11 Sustainable  Decentralized Urban Water and Wastewater Treatment in Off-grid Areas of Developing Countries Using NbS and Integrated Green Technologies������������������������������������  185 Aqib Hassan Ali Khan, Amna Kiyani, Blanca Velasco-Arroyo, Carlos Rad, Muhammad Abeer Khan, Sandra Curiel-Alegre, Mazhar Iqbal, and Rocío Barros 12 G  eothermal Wastewater Management to Create a Circular Economy: Taking Advantage of the Abundant Thermal Wastewater in Iceland ��������������������������������  207 Samaneh Sadat Nickayin 13 Opportunities  and Challenges to Implement Nature-Based Solutions for Urban Waters in Developed and Emerging Developed Countries��������������������������������  221 Vassiliki Terezinha Galvao Boulomytis, Natalie J. Barron, Karin Anderson, Renae Walton, and Luciene Pimentel da Silva 14 Water  Sensitive Design and Nature-Based Solutions for the Circular Management of Urban Water: Challenges and Missed Opportunities in the Auckland Region����������  239 Iresh Jayawardena 15 Wetlands  as a Nature-based Solution for Urban Water Management ��������������������������������������������������������������  259 Harsh Ganapathi, Suchita Awasthi, and Preethi Vasudevan

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16 Evidences  in Hydrodynamic Behavior Along a Float Treatment Wetland (FTW) on a Tropical Urban Stream��������������������  277 Rodrigo Bahia Pereira, Vinícius Neves Urbanek, Johannes Gerson Janzen, and Fernando Jorge Corrêa Magalhães Filho 17 Trajectory,  Challenges, and Opportunities in Sustainable Urban Water Management in Brazil: Nature-Based Solutions for Urban Stormwater Drainage ������������������������������������������  295 Alesi Teixeira Mendes, Gesmar Rosa dos Santos, and Conceição de Maria Albuquerque Alves 18 Nature-Based  Solutions for Sustainable Stormwater Management as Means to Increase Resilience to Climate Change, Promote Circularity and Improve City Aesthetics ������������������������������������������������������������������  315 Stella Apostolaki 19 Nature-Based  Solutions for Circular Management of Urban Water in the Built Environment of Sri Lanka����������������������  333 Panchali Weerakoon and Menaha Thayaparan 20 The  Hydraulic Approach Relevant to Circularity on Sustainable Water Catchment ����������������������������������������������������������  353 Tevfik Denizhan Muftuoglu and Hasan Volkan Oral 21 Exploration  of Nature-based Solutions for Management of Perennial Urban Flood and Erosion: A Case Study of Bulbula, Kano, Nigeria������������������������������������������������������������������������  371 Meshach Ileanwa Alfa, D. B. Adie, H. B. Yaroson, B. U. Ovuarume, and H. I. Owamah 22 Complex  Micro-meteorological Effects of Urban Greenery in an Urban Canyon: A Case Study of Prague-Dejvice, Czech Republic��������������������������������������������������������  391 Jan Geletič, Michal Belda, Martin Bureš, Pavel Krč, Michal Lehnert, Jaroslav Resler, and Hynek Řezníček 23 Harvesting  of Agricultural Nutrient Runoff with Algae, to Produce New Soil Amendments for Urban and Peri-urban Olive Tree Agroforestry Systems in Southern Europe����������������������������������������������������������������������������������  405 Vesela Tanaskovic Gassner, Dimitris Symeonidis, and Konstantinos Koukaras

Chapter 1

Circular Cities Solution with Biophilic Design and Nature-Based Solutions Makbulenur Onur

and Cengiz Acar

Abstract Today, as a result of the increasing population, needs and deterioration in the supply/demand balance and the destructive effects of humans on nature have increased. Parallel to this result, it also caused the deterioration of the ecological balance. Human beings, who feel that they have control and power over nature, have disrupted the balance of nature over time and have become increasingly distant from nature in this deteriorated balance. Urban green spaces are struggling with many problems that can be described as “urban disease”. The United Nations shows that the world population will reach approximately 10 billion in 2050. In response to these problems, innovative approaches are applied to design more livable, healthy, sustainable, and resilient cities. Biophilic design and nature-based solutions (NbS) are at the forefront of these approaches. Although both approaches are based on sustainability, their focus is different. One of the general objectives of our research is to evaluate the ecosystem services provided by urban green infrastructure in terms of biophilic design and nature-based solutions. The specific objectives of this research are (1) to compile monitoring and evaluation indicators for biophilic planning with biophilic design pioneers such as Wilson (Biophilia: the human bond with other species. Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1984), Beatley (Biophilic cities: integrating nature into urban design and planning. Washington, DC, Island Press, 2010), (2) to determine how these parameters can be used to lead innovation through an expert survey, and (3) questioning how to improve health, well-being, and productivity in the built environment. It is foreseen that a method proposal can be developed to create sustainable cities, thanks to the findings obtained as a result of this research, expert surveys, and method diagram. Keywords Circular cities · Biophilic design · NbS · Design with nature

M. Onur (*) · C. Acar Faculty of Forestry, Department of Landscape Architecture, Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, Turkey e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 A. Stefanakis et al. (eds.), Nature-based Solutions for Circular Management of Urban Water, Circular Economy and Sustainability, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-50725-0_1

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1.1 Introduction Mankind has changed the balance of nature in line with their own needs and demands. In order to restore this balance, many design approaches, policies, and so on provided many suggestions. In fact, the actor who breaks down and fixes in this process is “human being”. Cities also play an important role in the realization of the concept of a sustainable or transformable city. In this context, the rapid increase in the rate of urbanization throughout the world negatively affects the carrying capacity of the natural environment. This drags cities into more negative conditions day by day. In the twenty-first century, the world population rate is increasing day by day. Therefore, the demand for basic services such as energy, food, and water continues to rise. The demographic changes experienced due to the increase in the urban population and migration bring the expectations for the economical, efficient, and fair distribution of resources to the agenda of local actors more. According to the 2018 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report, global climate change will cause irreversible damage to humans, the built environment, and the biosphere (IPCC 2015). Urbanization is a physical and social process. How these processes develop is important. As a result of the industrial revolution, this process has revealed the concept called “urbanization”. It has become a serious problem for underdeveloped or developing countries with the effect of the serious population increase in the twentieth century (Weber et  al. 1958; Ateş et  al. 2019). In the cities of the future, an amalgamation of challenges looms large, encompassing not solely the burgeoning population growth, pressing environmental concerns, the intricate conundrum of urban waste management, and the palpable depletion of finite resources, but also navigating through the intricate tapestry of a transforming social fabric catalyzed by the rapid evolution of information technologies. This confluence of circumstances has invariably spurred a heightened call for the adoption and implementation of ecological approaches to address these multifaceted issues. The concept of sustainability says that ecological and human capital are worth protecting (Friedrich 2021). Wackernagel et al., in his study in 1999, say that the first of these purposes is the protection of the habitat. Heckman (2000) expresses the nature worth protecting as the sum of human knowledge and skills. This can be explained as being inspired by natural events (Wilson 1984). There are different views on how to protect sustainable life and ecological potential (Bjørn and Hauschild 2013; Ryberg et al. 2018; Friedrich 2021). These approaches do not mean that the ecology lost in nature is brought back in any way (Turner 1993).

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1.2 From the Theory of Biophilia to Biophilic Design Man’s relationship with nature starts from the moment of biological existence and continues until his death. Nature is good for people physically and mentally (Beatley 2010; Hickman 2013; Kellert and Wilson 1993; Rohde and Kendle 1994; Ulrich 1984; Wilson 1984; Kellert and Calabrese 2015). Biophilic design, which is an advocating approach, first emerged as a concept and then took its place in space designs. It is an approach used even in urban planning today. The concept of biophilia, which was first introduced by psychologist Erich Fromm (1964), was defined as “passionate love for life and living things.” Fromm (1964) argues that the connection between humans and nature is biologically registered (Fromm 1964). The biophilia hypothesis, which is a new concept in theory but based on the existence of human beings in practice, connects the physical and mental evolution of human beings to the natural elements around them. Landscape designers use natural elements and topography to balance nature and the built environment, thus making urban environments more livable and attractive. This design approach is related to biophilic design. Biophilic design proposed by Wilson (1984) and Kellert et al. (2011) and others is a method of landscape architecture that includes natural elements such as trees, water and natural lines, and ecologies in the built environment. The basis of the work is to be inspired by nature and to solve the ecological problems that occur by being inspired by nature. This design process is in two ways: (1) “organic or naturalistic,” which refers to environmental features, natural shapes, forms, patterns, and processes and (2) “land based or local”, which refers to and evolved from place-based relationships and human–nature relations (Kellert et al. 2008). Kellert in his study conducted in 2010 discussed the nature of space under three main titles. These are direct experience of nature, indirect experience of nature, and experience of space and place. There are sub-parameters under the three main parameters. The main and sub-parameters are very important in the implementation/ perception of biophilic design (Table 1.1). Table 1.1  The 3 experiences and 24 attributes of biophilic design Direct experience of nature Light Air Water Plants Animals Weather Natural landscapes and ecosystems Fire

Indirect experience of nature Images of nature Natural materials Natural colors Simulating natural light and air Naturalistic shapes and forms Evoking nature Information richness Age, change, and the patina of time Natural geometries Biomimicry

Experience of space and place Prospect and refuge Organized complexity Integration of parts to wholes Transitional spaces Mobility and wayfinding Cultural and ecological attachment to place

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The direct experience of nature expresses real contact with environmental features such as light, air, water, plants, animals, weather, natural landscapes and ecosystems, and fire in the built environment. It refers to the indirect experience of nature, representation or image of nature, transformation of nature, or exposure to certain patterns and processes that occur in nature. The experience of space and place refers to the characteristic spatial features of the natural environment that promote human health and well-being. Landscapes are spatial features such as shelter, integration of parts with the whole, mobility, and direction finding. The 24 biophilic design features identified in three categories are listed in Table  1.1 (Kellert 2018). Biophilic design is about creating good habitats for humans as biological organisms in the built environment. Like all species, humans experience disruptions due to artificial forces. Biophilic design aims to satisfy these natural adaptations in the modern built environment and, in doing so, improve people’s physical and mental health and wellness. The view that interacting with nature provides various psychological and physiological benefits to human health has been defended throughout history. With the increase in urbanization in recent years, natural areas and natural elements have been replaced by manmade areas and mass production. This situation triggered more research on the relationship between man and nature by experts and led to the development of scientific studies. It has been accepted by expert employees that being together with nature has positive effects on human psychology; moreover, the view that watching nature, being close to an area that offers the opportunity to interact with nature, and knowing that it can be reached when desired provides psychological benefits to people as well as being in one-to-one contact with nature (Ulrich and Parsons 1992). When the pioneering studies on biophilic design are evaluated, the following explanations have been made on this term: Biophilic design is an attempt to translate the natural systems inherent in human beings with an understanding to relate to nature (Wilson 1984). Biophilic design is the planning of the inherent human need to relate to nature in the design of the built environment (Kellert et al. 2008). Biophilic design balances human needs with the value and considerations of natural environments and processes and incorporates the properties and qualities of these elements into architectural design (Dillon 2008).

The most important point that the supporters of the biophilic design emphasize is the human effort to survive in the evolutionary process, the success of production, and the bond they establish with life; this bond is valid as a feeling of closeness to nature and is a common feeling that every human has.

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1.3 Biophilic Design and Nature-Based Solutions Nature-based solution is basically a study to protect natural resources. In fact, it is an approach that evaluates new approaches and is inspired by nature (Fink 2016; Pearlmutter et al. 2021). At this point, biophilic design and nature-based solutions (NbS) intersect. Nature-based solutions use nature and find solutions to problems inspired by nature (Fig.  1.1). These solutions provide numerous benefits to the economy, society, and ecological systems. It is also defined as living solutions designed to address various environmental challenges, supported by natural processes and structures (European Commission 2016; Frantzeskaki 2019). Therefore, the intersection of biophilic design approach and NbS is very important. Databases were analyzed in order to examine which studies included “biophilic design approach” and “NbS solutions” in scientific databases. Scopus and WOS were used to search for peer-reviewed, academic literature in the field of biophilic design and NbS. Figure 1.2 details the search methodology for this narrative review. A vast amount of sustainable literature was looked at for this review, which gives an overview of some of the key findings. It is not meant to be exhaustive but to provide an insight into the quality and quantity of evidence for each of the three biophilic experiences as found in the literature. When the publications made under the keyword “biophilic design” in the Web of Science database were examined, it was determined that the main topic of 194 publications was biophilic design, and the highest rate between 2013 and 2022 was in 2022 (24.227%) (Fig. 1.3, Table 1.2). Among the results obtained, the lowest rates were obtained between 2013 (1546%), 2014 (2062%), and 2015 (2577%). The increasing rate of results every year is among the important findings. When the publications made under the keyword “Nature-based solutions (NbS)” in the Web of Science database are examined, it is seen that the main topic of 471 publications is “Nature-Based Solutions”, 54,410% in the “Environmental Sciences” area, 18.896% in the “Environmental Studies” area, and 13,376% in the “Ecology” area (Table 1.3). Fig. 1.1  The intersection of biophilic design and nature-­based solution

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Fig. 1.2  Database diagram

Fig. 1.3  Web of Science biophilic design publication rate in 2013–2022

M. Onur and C. Acar

1  Circular Cities Solution with Biophilic Design and Nature-Based Solutions Table 1.2  Record count in 2013–2022

Publication years 2022 2021 2020 2019 2018 2015 2017 2016 2014 2013

Record count 47 38 28 27 17 10 6 5 4 3

7 % of 194 24.227% 19.588% 14.433% 13.918% 8.763% 5.155% 3.093% 2.577% 2.062% 1.546%

Table 1.3  Percentage distribution by Web of Science categories Web of Science categories Environmental sciences Environmental studies Ecology Green sustainable science technology Engineering environmental Water resources Forestry Urban studies Plant sciences Multidisciplinary sciences Geosciences multidisciplinary

Record count 255 89 63 61 54 52 33 33 23 20 19

% of 471 54.140% 18.896% 13.376% 12.951% 11.465% 11.040% 7.006% 7.006% 4.883% 4.246% 4.034%

1.4 Biophilic Design and Nature-Based Solutions in Circular Cities If cities could become adaptable urban ecosystems with biophilic design and NbS approaches, their ecological footprint would be reduced. At the same time, urban resource security will increase, the health of the urban population will improve, urban welfare will increase, and urban greenhouse gas emissions will decrease. These are the main goals that support the circular city. These goals are actually the common points of biophilic design and NbS (Fig. 1.4). Therefore, biophilic design and NbS can help address these issues as a circular development approach to the regeneration of our cities. However, although biophilic design and nature-based solutions are concepts that are so close to each other, no study in which these two concepts are combined has been found among the sources reached. Nature-based approaches, together with biophilic elements and attributes (Kellert 2018), can be combined in many parts of the city. These can be considered in three scales. In a large scale, “green corridors, coastal areas, and urban forests” appear as “urban parks, pocket parks” in a medium scale, and applications in small scales are indoor and outdoor applications (Fig. 1.5).

Fig. 1.4  The relationship between circular cities, biophilic design, and nature-­based solutions

Fig. 1.5  Circular city policies and future scenario diagram

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Fig. 1.6  Contribution of nature-based approaches to cities

When city applications are implemented as shown in Fig. 1.6, they can be categorized into four main groups, i.e., ecological, aesthetic, economic, and social contributions.

1.5 Conclusion Rapid and unplanned urbanization and uncontrolled population growth brought about by metropolitanization create negative environmental effects. For this reason, studies investigating alternative solutions for nature-based approaches are on the agenda of countries. As these problems progress, loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services and urban resilience problems are expected to increase. In this process, cities and societies that try to adapt by keeping up with the flow instead of resisting change will suffer minimal damage from the climate crisis. This process can be evaluated as an opportunity to develop while preserving nature. The restrictions of the Covid-19 global epidemic have shown that nature enters the recovery process at a great speed when the pressure on nature is reduced. Cities can also heal together with nature. The most important example of this will be with the cooperation of biophilic design and NbS, which produces solutions inspired by nature. Urban systems are dependent on nature and natural resources. Where possible, nature-based planning of investments in cities will make cities resilient. In order to achieve the sustainable development goals, nature-based solutions must be implemented.

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As a result, the research is at the common intersection of the concept of circular cities, NbS, and biophilic design. This study aims to both contribute to the literature on circular cities with these concepts and simultaneously establish foundational data for future research. Findings on these concepts show that these approaches can solve many ecological, social, and economic problems facing cities. This triple intersection also defines the potential benefits of adopting circular urban systems. Therefore, taking a circular approach to development can help revitalize our cities.

References Ateş M et  al (2019) Akıllı Şehir’kavramı ve dönüşen anlamı bağlamında eleştiriler. Megaron 14(1):41–50 Beatley T (2010) Biophilic cities: integrating nature into urban design and planning. Island Press, Washington, DC Bjørn A, Hauschild MZ (2013) Absolute versus relative environmental sustainability. J Ind Ecol 17:321e332. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1530-­9290.2012.00520.x Dillon BR (2008) Rebuilding biophilia. Doctoral dissertation, University of Cincinnati. Available at: https://etd.ohiolink.edu/apexprod/rws_olink/r/1501/10?clear=10&p10_accession_num= ucin1212599868 European Commission (2016) Policy topics: nature-based solutions. https://ec.europa.eu/research/ environment/index.cfm?Pg=nbs. Accessed 29 Jan 2023 Fink HS (2016) Human-nature for climate action: nature-based solutions for urban sustainability. Sustainability 8:254. https://doi.org/10.3390/su8030254 Frantzeskaki N (2019) Seven lessons for planning nature-based solutions in cities. Environ Sci Pol 93:101–111 Friedrich D (2021) From restorative building to regenerative economy: a model-theoretical analysis on bio-based plastics for the construction industry. In: Rethinking sustainability towards a regenerative economy. Springer, Cham Fromm E (1964) Psicoanálisis de la sociedad contemporánea: hacia una sociedad sana. Fondo de cultura económica, Mexico Heckman J (2000) Policies to foster human capital. Res Econ 54(1):3–56. https://doi.org/10.1006/ reec.1999.0225 Hickman C (2013) Therapeutic landscape. A history of English hospital gardens since 1800. Manchester University Press, New York Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) (2015) Available from: https://www.ipcc.ch/ Kellert SR (2018) Nature by design: The practice of biophilic design. Yale University Press. https:// yalebooks.yale.edu/book/9780300214536/nature-­by-­design/ Kellert S, Calabrese E (2015) The practice of biophilic design. Terrapin Bright LLC, London Kellert SR, Heerwagen J, Mador M (2011) Biophilic design: the theory, science and practice of bringing buildings to life. John Wiley & Sons. Kellert SR, Wilson EO (1993) The biophilia hypothesis. Island Press, Washington DC Kellert SR et al (2008) Biophilic design: the theory, science and practice of bringing buildings to life. Wiley, New York Pearlmutter D et  al (2021) Closing water cycles in the built environment through nature-based solutions: the contribution of vertical greening systems and green roofs. Water 13(16):2165 Rohde CLE, Kendle AD (1994) Human well-being, natural landscapes and wildlife in urban areas a review. English Nature, Peterborough Ryberg MW et al (2018) How to bring absolute sustainability into decision-making: an industry case study using a planetary boundary-based methodology. Sci Total Environ 634:1406–1416

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Turner T (1993) The role of indigenous peoples in the environmental crisis: The example of the Kayapo of the Brazilian Amazon. Perspect Biol Med 36(3):526–545. https://doi.org/10.1353/ pbm.1993.0027 Ulrich RS (1984) View through a window may influence recovery from surgery. Science 224:420–421 Ulrich RS, Parsons R (1992) Influences of passive experiences with plants on individual well-­ being and health. In: The role of horticulture in human well-being and social development, vol 93. Timber Press, Portland, p 105 Weber M et al (1958) The city. Free Press, New York Wilson EO (1984) Biophilia: the human bond with other species. Harvard University Press, Cambridge

Chapter 2

The Role of Multipurpose NbS Interventions in Increasing the Circularity of Cities Behrouz Pirouz, Michele Turco, Stefania Anna Palermo, Anna Chiara Brusco, Behzad Pirouz, Hana Javadi Nejad, and Patrizia Piro

Abstract Climate change affects all nations and requires increasing awareness about sustainability and circularity. A vast percentage of the population lives in urban areas, about 75% in Europe. There are plenty of aspects in cities toward sustainability, including environmental, social, human, economic, and ecological. In addition, there are numerous kinds of nature-based solutions (NbS), such as green infrastructures, natural treatment and recovery, rainwater management, and increases in green spaces. However, using several NbS, such as green roofs, renewable energy, or urban farming in one building is not possible simply due to the limit of the roof area. Therefore, to consider as many aspects as possible simultaneously, one way could be multidisciplinary NbS interventions. In this regard, this study aims to analyze multipurpose NbS interventions to maximize sustainable systems and increase the circularity of cities. Therefore, the possibility of mixing green roofs and solar panels, urban farming using gray water and atmosphere water harvesting, multipurpose plants for green spaces for landscape and animal food and biofuel, and similar techniques and innovative methods have been investigated. Moreover, the advantages of the selected multipurpose NbS interventions are presented. The outcomes show the role of the purpose techniques in increasing the efficiency, sustainability, acceptance rate by customers, and circularity level of the city.

B. Pirouz (*) · M. Turco · S. A. Palermo · A. C. Brusco · H. J. Nejad · P. Piro Department of Civil Engineering, University of Calabria, Rende, CS, Italy e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] B. Pirouz Dipartimento di Ingegneria Meccanica, Energetica e Gestionale, University of Calabria, Rende, CS, Italy e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 A. Stefanakis et al. (eds.), Nature-based Solutions for Circular Management of Urban Water, Circular Economy and Sustainability, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-50725-0_2

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Keywords  Domestic water management · Flood management · Urban farming · Biofuel · Energy · Circular city

2.1 Introduction 2.1.1 Urbanization and Climate Change Around half of the world’s population lives in urban areas, and the urbanization trend is increasing. According to predictions, the urbanization rate will reach more than 80% by 2050 (UNEP 2012). One of the consequences of this variation would be global climate change (Bona et al. 2023). Increasing urbanization and natural hazard risks by climate change raise humans’ vulnerability, which settled more concentrated in the cities (Brinkley et al. 2013). In addition, the features of the cities, such as less permeable areas, amplified the intensity of climate change impacts (Hobbie and Grimm 2020). The urbanization rate depends on population growth, which is increasing unstoppably in many areas. Therefore, understanding how urbanization changes the environment and how the impacts (land use, temperature, infiltration rate, wind velocity, rainfall, heat island, evaporation, evapotranspiration, energy balance, etc.) can be minimized would be useful to increase the livability of cities (Maheshwari et al. 2020).

2.1.2 Nature-Based Solutions (NbS) and Their Advantages in the Urban Environment The European Commission (EC) has defined NbS as follows (Maes and Jacobs 2017): …living solutions inspired by, continuously supported by, and using nature, which are designed to address various societal challenges in a resource-efficient and adaptable manner and to simultaneously provide economic, social, and environmental benefits.

The main identified principal advantages of NbS by the EC (European Commission 2015): –– NbS could increase sustainable urbanization, increase economic growth besides improving the environment, enhancing human well-being, and making cities more attractive. –– NbS could restore degraded ecosystems and thus improve the resilience of ecosystems. –– NbS could mitigate climate change. –– NbS could enhance the storage of carbon. –– NbS could improve natural risk management and decrease natural disaster damages.

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There is a growing recognition that NbS, as an integrated approach, is a vital strategy for climate change (Seddon et al. 2020, 2021). NbS are interventions where people try to restore nature and improve urbanization as a part of nature that brings benefits for people and biodiversity (Cohen-Shacham et al. 2019) while at the same time supporting sustainable development goals (SDGs) (Gómez Martín et al. 2020; Maes et al. 2019). NbS interventions have the potential to deal with climate adaptation and mitigation (Langergraber et al. 2021), decrease flood risk (Brunetti et al. 2018; Carbone et  al. 2015), increase food and water security (Boelee et  al. 2017), mitigation of climate change, improvement of sustainable livelihoods, ecosystems, and biodiversity (Cohen-Shacham et  al. 2019), improvement of building thermal behavior (Maiolo et al. 2020), a decrease in energy consumption (Pirouz et al. 2020b), and so forth. In addition, NbS could address one or more urban challenges in sustainable ways (Pirouz et al. 2020a), such as the environment, economy, society, and health benefits (Raymond et  al. 2017). The major advantages of NbS are as follows (Liquete et al. 2016; Raymond et al. 2017): • Social health and benefits: Reduce flood risk and improve people’s recreation and health. • Environmental benefits: Improve water quality and support wildlife. • Economic benefits: Produce market goods and reduce public costs. However, there are some drawbacks to some NbS. The main difficulties of some NbS, like green building, are as follows (Banerjee and Akuli 2014): –– –– –– –– ––

High implementing costs. Lack of information about the advantages. Lack of human resources and skills. Uncertainty about performances. Difficulties in finding alternative raw material inputs and manufacturing technology.

2.1.3 Sustainable Development and NbS The impacts of human activities (industrialization, burning fossil fuels, urbanization, carbon emissions, population growth, etc.) alter the climate and negatively affect the environment, and sustainable development means the procedures for sustaining human activities in the present and future (Lavrinenko et al. 2019). In 1992, this became one of the most urgent focuses for international policy at the United Nations Earth Summit (Chichilnisky 1997). A low-carbon city is a city with minimum carbon emissions. In contrast, a low-carbon policy plays a role in sustainability but does not guarantee it. In fact, a sustainable city means a city with long-term socioeconomic sustainability, minimum resource abuse, and without negative ecological impacts (UNEP 2012).

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The 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs) include SDG 1: No Poverty, SDG 2: Zero Hunger, SDG 3: Good Health and Well-being, SDG 4: Quality Education, SDG 5: Gender Equality, SDG 6: Clean Water and Sanitation, SDG 7: Affordable and Clean Energy, SDG 8: Decent Work and Economic Growth, SDG 9: Industry, Innovation, and Infrastructure, SDG 10: Reduced Inequality, SDG 11: Sustainable Cities and Communities, SDG 12: Responsible Consumption and Production, SDG 13: Climate Action, SDG 14: Life Below Water, SDG 15: Life on Land, SDG 16: Peace and Justice Strong Institutions, SDG 17: Partnerships to achieve the Goal (United Nations Foundation 2023).

2.1.4 Circularity of Cities and NbS A circular city means moving from a linear economy to a circular economy (CE). CE system means minimizing resource consumption, waste, and emissions (Langergraber et al. 2020; Pearlmutter et al. 2020), decreasing the cities’ environmental footprint, closing the loops of urban material and resource flows, and creating new business opportunities (Bjørn Vidar Vangelsten et al. 2020). The key parameters in circularity are as follows (Cruz 2019; OECD 2020; Oral et al. 2021; Williams 2021): –– Society and environment (improvements of cities’ ecological footprint, public health, urban safety, air, forest, land use, built environment and limiting harmful urban effects). –– Supply chain (consumption of natural resources, circularity of resources and materials, domestic product production, repair, waste, reuse, water, etc.) –– Partnership among stakeholders. –– Energy. –– Economic and business (agriculture, food, tourism, improve existing urban conditions). –– Infrastructure and technology (mobility and industry). –– Financial, correlated to cost or cost-saving related to the circular economy. –– Market circularity. –– Governments (public administration, suitable strategies, resistance to adopt policies). There are interconnections between NbS and circular economy and circular city. For example, taking advantage of buildings’ roofs (green buildings) that include green roofs, living walls, green facades, house trees, etc. can increase the circularity of the cities (Calheiros and Stefanakis 2021). These types of NbS can improve ecosystem services, thus contributing to a circular economy (CE) in several ways (Alhashimi 2018; Allen et al. 2015; Pearlmutter et al. 2020): –– Green building materials (materials more natural, more economical with less waste, water usage, energy usage, etc.). –– Green building systems (minimizing impacts on the environment, improving urban life quality, etc.).

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–– Green building sites (minimizing environmental conflicts by the buildings). –– Improve and protect biodiversity; –– Improve and protect ecosystems.

2.1.5 Urban Farming as a Multidisciplinary NbS Urban farming could play a key role in a circular city (CC) as it can maximize the reuse of resources for food and biomass production and minimize external resources (Canet-Martí et  al. 2021). The shorter distance between consumers and food production sites through urban farming could decrease costs from delivery to storage, fuel costs, and impact on clean air and climate change mitigation. Moreover, short food supply chains contribute directly to food security by reducing reaction times to consumer demands (Aubry and Kebir 2013; Pölling and Mergenthaler 2017; Song et al. 2021). Moreover, urban gray water can be reused for not-drinking usage such as urban farming, thus decreasing purified water resource consumption (López Zavala et al. 2016; Ren et al. 2020; Sahoo and Manna 2018). Treatment and reuse of gray water could save 29–47% of drinking water consumed (Humeau et al. 2011). Advantages of urban food production (Liquete et al. 2016; Massonneau 2012; Skar et al. 2020; van Niekerk et al. 2011): –– –– –– –– –– –– –– –– –– –– –– ––

Production of fresh vegetables, fruits, flowers, etc. Production of small animals on rooftops. Reduction of urban runoff. Thermal advantages for the building. Reduction of urban heat island effect. Social, environmental, and economic advantages. Reduction greenhouse gas emissions. Climate change adaptation. Disaster risk management. Sustainable cities. Water resource management. Improvement of biodiversity.

Disadvantages of urban food production (De Zeeuw et al. 2011; Draper 2010; Smit et al. 1997; van Niekerk et al. 2011): –– Exposure to pesticides. –– Potential for disease transmission (i.e., bird/chicken flu in the case of animal production). –– Contamination. –– The unsuitability of urban soil/air for food production. –– High weight. –– Costs of protection and structural supports. –– Maintenance cost.

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The literature review analysis shows the advantages of NbS in the circularity and sustainability of cities. However, a rank system to consider both circularity and sustainability parameters is missed in the previous studies and, therefore, will be analyzed in this research. Moreover, the role of new NbS with more multifunctionality is missed in the previous studies and will be considered in the current research.

2.2 Materials and Methods This study tried to improve the circularity and sustainability rate of the NbS and analyze the role of multipurpose NbS interventions to achieve a better result. The study flowchart is shown in Fig. 2.1. As shown in Fig.  2.1, in the first step, to be able to analyze and compare the advantages of multifunctional NbS, we selected the NbS based on the results of a study by Oral et  al. (2021), and we applied the calculated total circularity score (TCS). In the second step, we did another analysis and calculated the total sustainability score (TSS), and we created another qualitative assessment score as the total score (TS) by mixing both scores, meaning circularity and sustainability. In the third step, we changed the elements of the NbS in a way to make the conventional NbS more multipurpose, and repeated the previous steps. In the fourth step, we compared the new multipurpose NbS scores to the previous ones and, finally, some recommendations for improving the applications of NbSs.

2.2.1 Selected NbS The selected NbS are presented in Table 2.1.

2.2.2 Fuzzy Scale Fuzzy Number  Fuzzy numbers are widely used in the representation of uncertainty in applied sciences. Suppose that ℝ is the set of all real numbers (Saeidifar 2011). The fuzzy number A expressed with the following membership function for all x ∈ ℝ: AL  x  ,

 A  x   {

AR  x  ,

a xb bxc cxd

0,

otherwise

1,

2

The Role of Multipurpose NbS Interventions in Increasing the Circularity of Cities

Fig. 2.1 A flowchart of the study

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Start

NbS

Multipurpose

No

Yes

Multi-purpose NbS

One purpose NbS

Circularity score

SDGs score

Final score

Comparisons

Final score

Recommendations

End

where a, b, c, and d are real numbers such that a 25%) of the stormwater compared to the non-planted control during regular 41 stormwater inputs over 7 months. Flow through turfgrass was higher and water storage was lower, whereas retention in prairie was higher at a water flowrate similar to turfgrass. The most delayed flow and consequent highest water storage was observed in the case of shrub. Related to the higher water retention, shrub and prairie systems were more successful at storing the largest number of rainfall events and minimized outflow when inflows were small (≤50 mm). This was explained by the greater leaf area and rooting mass of these vegetations. Moreover, runoff drained almost 50% through systems vegetated with turfgrass and prairie faster and did not pond on the soil surface. On the other hand, infiltration through shrub-vegetated or non-vegetated systems was decreased to 20–30% of total input which caused pooling of runoff on the soil surface. Changes in flow rates were determined only after precipitations over 90 mm and 75% drainage of the influent, so difference in flowrate was not a direct function of influent or effluent flow rate (Johnston et al. 2020). In another study, 12 field-­ scale rain gardens planted with prairie, shrub, and turfgrass were compared with unplanted rain gardens. During an analysis between July and September, drainage was 0–25%, 16–60%, 36–63%, and 60–76% through prairie, shrub, turfgrass, and bare soil, respectively. Therefore, it was concluded that prairie provided the lowest drainage and potential recharge, whereas the highest drainage and recharge were observed in non-planted rain gardens (Nocco et al. 2016). In terms of peak flow reduction performance, rain gardens were found to be less effective compared to five other green infrastructure applications (green roof, swale, pervious surface, detention basin, and wetland) because rain gardens were found to decrease the peak flow by approximately 53% which was 61–97% for other applications (Xing et al. 2021). Indeed, Zhang et al. (2021) showed that the use of different LID practices linked in a suitable sequence (e.g., passing of the runoff through bioretention/pervious pavement, bio-swale, and rain garden in sequence before its final drainage into the municipal sewerage system) was more effective in reducing urban runoff and peak flow than unconnected dispersed LID practices. So, this would be a good choice in the design and construction of LID practices in urban areas for flood control (Zhang et al. 2021). Rain gardens provide infiltration areas in the urban environment and prevent management of surface runoff. Infiltration rate in rain gardens was determined in many field studies, 2–160 cm/h, and it was found to change depending on soil type and measurement location (Guo et  al. 2021; Jenkins et  al. 2010; Kasprzyk et  al. 2022; Venvik and Boogaard 2020; Zhang et al. 2021). A study conducted in Ohio,

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USA, revealed that the rain garden reduces the incoming flow by 85%, even operating at the minimum recommended infiltration rate of 0.635 cm/h (Jennings et al. 2015). Additionally, Shuster et  al. (2017) compared the infiltration and drainage rates in rain gardens and lawns and stated that the rain garden provided four times higher infiltration rate and 100 times higher internal drainage rate (Shuster et al. 2017). Moreover, hydraulic performance of the natural substrate in rain gardens constructed in Gdańsk was found to store 30 mm of rainfall to prevent flash flooding and drought mitigation (Kasprzyk et al. 2022). Zhang et al. (2021) observed that surface flooding which went through LID applications such as bioretention/pervious pavement, bio-swale and rain garden in sequence was filtrated completely, and no surface runoff was drained into the municipal sewage system in the Shenzhen region of China. Clogging potential of the rain garden substrate is considered as the most critical issue of infiltration through rain gardens. As an example, soil infiltration rates measured during the construction of a rain garden were 22.4  cm/h on average (10.3–40.5 cm/h) and decreased slightly to 12 cm/h (1.2–21.2 cm/h) after 1 year (Trowsdale and Simcock 2011). On the contrary, sediment buildup in rain garden was found to be inconsistent and had not interfered with operation during the 8 years since installation (Jenkins et al. 2010). Similarly, Villanova operated the rain garden at an infiltration rate of 0.64–1.3 cm/h without any measurable degradation in performance for 7 years (Davis et al. 2009). So, there are examples where rain gardens were operated without any significant clogging. Saturated hydraulic permeability is a parameter which is measured to assess the hydraulic performance of rain gardens. Paus et al. (2016) suggested that a rain garden with a sufficiently high saturated hydraulic conductivity (i.e. >10 cm/h) should be targeted (Paus et  al. 2016). According to another study, the recommended hydraulic permeability in bioretention media is 1.3–20 cm/h (Osman et al. 2019). Asleson et  al. (2009) observed different saturated hydraulic permeability in rain gardens based on the location. For example, the highest saturated hydraulic conductivity coefficient was measured typically near shrubs and grasses (8.1 × 10−2 cm/s) and the lowest one (5.5  ×  10−4  cm/s) was measured near the garden entrance. Additionally, at points near low yielding trees and on the side slopes of the rain garden, hydraulic permeability tended to be higher (≥2.2 × 10−2 cm/s), indicating that large and dense vegetation contributes to increase in hydraulic permeability values (Asleson et al. 2009). The impact of vegetation on enhancing hydraulic permeability was further studied by Johnston et  al. (2020). It was determined that shrubs and prairie plants with a higher root density increased the proportion of soil macropores to ensure free-draining soil water and increased saturated hydraulic permeability (Ks) of soil by as much as 25-fold compared to the control and turfgrass system. Additionally, the prairie and turfgrass rain garden mesocosms had an infiltration rate similar to the rate at which stormwater was applied (19.2 cm/h) preventing surface ponding. However, ponding on the soil surface for up to an hour was observed when inputs were >50 mm in mesocosms with shrub. This delayed infiltration of stormwater resulted in subdued drainage response even though the shrub systems had the fastest average Ks. Therefore, it appeared that vegetation could

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increase hydraulic permeability through their roots which provide channels for water flow (Johnston et al. 2020). Hydraulic retention time is a very important indicator to assess the performance of the rain gardens, as well. It depends on the hydraulic permeability of the soil media and affects the flow reduction. For example, a peak flow reduction of 50–64% was provided by retention times of 26–37  minutes. Moreover, retention times of 15–54 minutes were found to correspond to peak discharge reduction of 68–95% (Li et al. 2014). In addition, it was observed that a rain garden delayed the runoff by 4.5 hours during the installation phase and 5.5 hours during the operation phase, helping to reduce peak flow (Shuster et al. 2017). Furthermore, experimental analysis of the flow simulation helped to determine the average retention time of 8–14  minutes in rain garden even though a constant flow rate was maintained (Fajardo-herrera et al. 2019). City of Portland Bureau of Environmental Services (2004) stated that the rain garden delayed the flow by 28 minutes where no outflow was recorded during the first 16  minutes. Real-time monitoring was deployed to determine the lag time of rain garden drainage, and it appeared that peak flow could be delayed by 1.5-fold depending on rainfall size (6–13 minutes for rainfall intensities of 8–130 mm) and plant type (prairie, shrubs, and turfgrass) (Johnston et al. 2020). Xing et  al. (2021) also demonstrated a peak flow delay between 1.5 and 3.0 hours in their study.

4.3 Pollutant Treatment In addition to its hydraulic benefits to the environment, rain gardens can serve to sustainability and climate change adaptations by pollutant removal ability. Urban runoff including many inorganic and organic pollutants can be treated by the soil media and plants that rain gardens have. As a result, groundwater pollution is prevented. Moreover, retention of urban runoff prohibits transport of pollutants to the receiving water bodies by runoff. A major portion of the studies about contaminant treatment in rain gardens investigated total suspended solid (TSS), nitrogen (N), and phosporus (P) removal. Rain gardens were estimated to reduce TSS more than 75 up to 99% (Davis et al. 2009; Dietz 2007; Roy-Poirier et  al. 2010; Spraakman et  al. 2020; Xing et  al. 2021; Yergeau and Obropta 2013). Jenkins et  al. (2010) measured the average TSS of 143 mg/L at the inlet and 17 mg/L at the outlet. In another study, the average and maximum TSS concentrations measured at the rain garden inlet were 30–375 mg/L and 3–42  mg/L, respectively, at the exit of the garden (Trowsdale and Simcock 2011). So, rain gardens could provide almost 90% TSS removal. On the other hand, there are studies reporting lower TSS removal such as 15% (Zhang et al. 2020) and 14% (Dutta et al. 2021). The impact of vegetation on TSS removal did not seem to enhance TSS removal since rain garden areas with plants removed only 1% more TSS than rain garden areas without plants (Barrett et al. 2013).

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Nitrogen removal efficiency of rain gardens is estimated to be 30–97% (Davis et  al. 2009; Dietz 2007; Roy-Poirier et  al. 2010; Yergeau and Obropta 2013). Different removal rates of TN and TP was explained by difference in plant type, mulching, soil type, and rain garden depth. Actually, plants can take different amounts of nutrients from the soil for their development, depending on their species. If removal of different forms of nitrogen were considered, rain gardens were found to reduce TN by 15–40% (Hunt et al. 2006, 2008; Xing et al. 2021), TKN by 32–44% (Fajardo-herrera et al. 2019; Hunt et al. 2008), and NH3/NH4+ by 70–88% (Hunt et al. 2008; Passeport et al. 2009). Nitrate could also be removed in rain gardens during the anoxic conditions observed. For example, Spraakman et al. (2020) determined that NH3/NH4+ concentrations were significantly reduced in the rain garden, while NO3− and NO2− concentrations were not consistently reduced. This suggests that both NO3− and NO2− production via aerobic ammonia nitrification occur in the rain garden, sometimes followed by denitrification under saturated conditions. Additionally, another study found that the removal rate of NO3-N in the rain garden increased with increasing height of the ponding zone, and the removal rate of NO3-N was highest at 98% when the height was set to 60 cm (Xiong et al. 2020). Consequently, it is common to have rain gardens designed with an anaerobic zone to enhance nitrate removal. For example, while 75% nitrate nitrogen (NO3-N) removal was observed in one of the rain gardens in this study with an anaerobic zone, this removal rate was 13% in another rain garden without an anaerobic zone (Hunt et al. 2006). Also, rain garden designed with an internal water storage (IWS) layer has increased the TN removal efficiency in the traditional rain garden system from 18–54% to 91%. So, for increasing N removal and reducing the N2O emission potential, a rain garden with an IWS layer has been suggested (Wang et al. 2021). Studies conducted by Zhang et al. (2020) and Dutta et al. (2021) pointed out that differences in pollutant removal rates of different rain gardens with the same return period can be attributed to different conditions such as rainfall intensities. Rain gardens were estimated to reduce total phosphorus (TP) by 11–85%, (Davis et al. 2009; Dietz 2007; Dutta et al. 2021; Roy-Poirier et al. 2010; Seo et al. 2017; Yergeau and Obropta 2013; Zhang et  al. 2020). Sharma and Malaviya (2021) reported total phosphorus removals of 70–85% in rain gardens for high and low permeability soil filtration media. Also, low permeability and high water retention time were found to support complexation and decrease P export. The first flush effect expresses the situation when pollutant concentrations at the beginning are higher than that in the middle and later time of a rainfall event. Tang et al. (2020) found the first flush effect was more significant for TN because the first flush effect for TN was observed in 16 out of the 17 storms (94% of all rainfall events). On the other hand, the first flush effect for TP was observed in 10 out of the 17 storms (71% of all rainfall events). These studies concluded that though high rainfall intensity may wash off more pollutants, the large amount of rainwater runoff caused by intensive rainfall may dilute the pollutants. So, pollutant concentrations of rain water are the combined results of wash off and dilution effects. In another investigation, negative TP removal (−47%) was recorded for the rain garden (Xing et al. 2021).

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The negative TP removal was related to the fact that phosphorus leaches from natural material in rain garden during rainwater infiltration. There are other studies pointing out the possibility of leaching of N and P from rain garden. For example, mulching was found to affect the amount of N and P removal by Dietz (2007) and Vijayaraghavan et al. (2021). Moreover, after the installation, leaching from mulch and soil could result in increased nutrient concentration (Dietz 2007). To increase the treatment service performance of rain gardens, soil substrate could be modified to have a delayed saturation, low sorption capacity, limited pollutant mobility, and bioaccumulation of metals or organic compounds (Sharma and Malaviya 2021). For example, addition of carbon substrate was found to enhance NO3− removal up to 87% (Yang and Zhang 2011) and even up to 99% in another study (Randall and Bradford 2013). Extended saturated conditions inducing anoxic and anaerobic conditions were beneficial for N and P removal so N removal of over 80% was observed under wetting regimes (Sharma and Malaviya 2021). Biphasic rain gardens were developed to provide saturated and unsaturated conditions simultaneously for improved treatment (Yang et  al. 2013) and determined to be more effective for NO3− removal (40–60%) compared to monophasic ones (29–39%) (Tang and Li 2016). Moreover, biphasic rain gardens were found successful to decrease dicamba, atrazine, 2,4-D around 90%, and glycophosphate about 99% from both agricultural and urban runoff events (Sharma and Malaviya 2021). On the other hand, chloride concentration during non-snow events also increased from 42 mg/L to 344 mg/L from pre- to post-construction phases, suggesting likely leaching of chloride from mulch and soils (Alyaseri et al. 2017). Another contaminant group commonly found in urban runoff is heavy metals. Rain gardens were able to reduce Cu (54–99%) (Frazier 2021; Hunt et  al. 2006, 2008), Pb (31–81%) (Hunt et al. 2006, 2008; Line and Hunt 2009; Xing et al. 2021), and Zn (77–98) (Hunt et al. 2006, 2008; Line and Hunt 2009). In addition, Trowsdale and Simcock (2011) studied the removal of total and dissolved Zn in the rain garden and found that total Zn removal (96%) was slightly higher than dissolved Zn removal (93%). Also, ≥90% of the heavy metals (e.g. Zn, Cd, Pb, Cu) removal observed in the top 25 cm of bioretention media (Sharma and Malaviya 2021). Rain gardens were also reported to decrease pathogenic bacteria like E. coli 63–71% (Hunt et al. 2008; Youngblood et al. 2017), fecal coliform 69% (Hunt et al. 2008), Enterococci 65%, and Coliphage 67% (Youngblood et al. 2017). In addition, Alyaseri et al. (2017) stated that despite the young age of the rain gardens, they may already be reducing the level of bacteria by 63%. As an emerging contaminant, microplastics have been detected in urban runoff, as well. Rain water infiltration systems with vegetation are regarded as very efficient in capturing microplastics and preventing their spread into downstream environments such that the average concentration of all microparticles, including microfibers, was reduced by 84%, and their load was reduced by more than 92% (Smyth et al. 2021).

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4.4 Carbon Footprint In addition to other benefits they provide, rain gardens have also been regarded as NbS that contribute to carbon footprint reduction and carbon sequestration. Rain gardens increase green space and soil richness, ensure carbon sequestration through storing CO2 in plants or soil, and indirectly or directly reduce CO2 and carbon footprint (Kavehei et al. 2018a). A study about reduction in CO2 emission compared rain gardens and sand, and it was seen that the CO2 emission of rain gardens was 30% less compared to sand filters (Andrew and Vesely 2008). Moore and Hunt (2013) also compared rain gardens and sand filters in terms of carbon emissions and carbon sequestration. According to the study, carbon emissions from rain gardens during the installation were 21.5 kg CO2 m−2, while the carbon sequestration was 19 kg CO2 m−2. On the other hand, installation of sand filter caused 240 kg CO2-C m−2 carbon emission while providing no carbon fix. Therefore, net carbon release from rain garden was 2.5 kg CO2-C m−2 and from sand filter was 240 kg CO2-C m−2. Results demonstrated that rain gardens were preferable due to both lower emissions during the installation phase and higher carbon capture. Additionally, it was proved that rain gardens established in Ohio reduced CO2 emissions by 60% by carbon sequestration as a result of increased green areas (Vineyard et al. 2015). Furthermore, decreasing carbon emissions is associated with a reduction in carbon footprint. Kavehei et al. (2018a) found that the carbon embodied in the initial establishment constitutes 41% of the carbon footprint of the rain gardens because of transportation during installation. The carbon footprint of a rain garden over a 30-year period was predicted to vary between 13.9 kg CO2 eq. m−2 (Vineyard et al. 2015) to a maximum of 138.9 kg CO2 eq. m−2 (Flynn and Traver 2013) ignoring its carbon sequestration. On the other hand, the carbon sequestration potential of a rain garden considering natural systems was estimated between −144 kg CO2 eq. m−2 (Flynn and Traver 2013) and −7.1 kg CO2 eq. m−2 (Cameron et al. 2012) in a 30-year period. Considering this data, Kavehei et  al. (2018a) concluded that the average carbon footprint of rain gardens was calculated to be −75.5 ± 68.4 kg CO2 eq. m−2 over 30 years, which revealed the potential of rain gardens to completely balance the carbon emissions. As a result, rain gardens have the lowest net carbon footprint among other NbS. To evaluate the circularity potential of rain gardens, Flynn and Traver (2013) compared the carbon footprint of end-of-life scenarios of materials used in rain gardens after destruction. Global warming potential was estimated as 134 kg CO2 eq in case the rain garden media is reused, whereas this value was calculated as 51,291 kg CO2 eq when the media was disposed. Chan et al. (2018) investigated the effects of plant varieties used in rain gardens in Hong Kong on carbon sequestration in the case of plants that were used to replace fossil fuel. The carbon final carbon stock was calculated as 0.5 kg/m2 in grasses and 26.8  kg/m2 in trees among seven herbs, seven shrubs, and six tree types studied. This result was interpreted as the negligible contribution from grasses to carbon sequestration. Although carbon sequestration of the trees was higher than shrubs, trees were estimated to reach the maximum carbon sequestration in 20  years,

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whereas shrubs could reach the highest level in 5–8  years. Therefore, planting shrubs with lower carbon sequestration but faster growth was determined to be a better scenario compared to planting trees with a higher carbon sequestration but slower growth in terms of carbon fixing. Overall, modeling results proposed that carbon stock in rain gardens could be elevated from 0 to 3 kg/m2 by optimizing the growth capacity and carbon sequestration potential of the plant. Additionally, in the presence of trees in rain gardens, annual carbon sequestration and annual carbon removal were calculated as 490 kg C and 90 kg C, respectively (Flynn and Traver 2013). Consequent annual global warming potential avoidance was calculated as 1943 kg CO2 eq.

4.5 Biodiversity One of the most important services of rain garden as an NbS is to contribute to biodiversity, which plays a very critical role during the period of climate change. Rain gardens can support the development of birds, insects, wildlife, and plants. It was seen that rain gardens often host worms, ants, snails, and spiders (Mehring and Levin 2015). Looking at the literature, it can be said that the transition from traditional green areas to rain gardens increases the biodiversity in cities. For example, for the 84 plant species examined, number of species and species richness in rain gardens were 2–4 times more compared to gardenbed-type green areas and lawn-­ type green areas, respectively (Kazemi et al. 2009). Additionally, a rain garden with water-resistant plants and birdhouses, mangers, and feeding stations for animals was established in an area of 310 m2 in a primary school garden in Shanghai. Here, rain garden was found to result in a 220%, 66.7%, 57.1%, 50%, and 50% increase in flowers and fruit trees, molluscs, insects, chilopods, and birds, respectively (Yan 2021). Another study selected five different rain gardens in Gdansk, Poland, where the number of plant species and individual plants were known (Kasprzyk et  al. 2022). Biodiversity was evaluated through indicators such as Shannon evenness index (sign of a rain garden resistant against urban challenges and balanced in ecosystem services) and Shannon Diversity index (species diversity in a given area). It was found that rain gardens with an evenness index of 0.84–0.96 increased biodiversity by creating very comfortable areas for many animal and plant species and improving stormwater quality.

4.6 Ecosystem Services NbS are preferred because they can provide many ecosystem services which are vital for sustainability. For example, they can support nutrient cycle, photosynthesis, soil formation, regulate air quality, climate, water resources, erosion control, water treatment, pest control, pollination, flood control, supply raw materials,

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medicine content, food, and fresh water and contribute to education, well-being, aesthetics, and recreation for the society (Song et al. 2020). As already discussed in detail in the previous sections, rain gardens have a significant capacity for rain water catchment and infiltration into soil (Autixier et al. 2014; Chaffin et al. 2016; Pataki et al. 2011). In fact, in addition to infiltration and retention of stormwater, purification is considered as the third primary function of a rain garden since they can remove pollutants like TSS, COD, as well as nutrients (TP, NO3-N, NH4, NH3, and TN) and heavy metals like Cu and Zn (Lu and Wang 2021; Yang et al. 2010, 2013). Therefore, it can be concluded that rain gardens are functional to provide ecosystem services by controlling flood, protecting water resources from combined sewer overflow, treating water, and providing fresh water (Yang et al. 2015). Climate regulation is one of the ecosystem services of rain gardens and decreases the impact of climate change through reducing carbon emissions and capturing carbon in the soil media. Over 30 years, bioretention basins are thought to have a 70% potential to reduce carbon emissions (Kavehei et al. 2018a; Kavehei et al. 2018b). Also, the results of an investigation about temporal and vertical variations in carbon capture in 25 subtropical rain gardens aged 2–13 indicated that the top 20 cm of the soil profile appeared to have a discernible age influence on carbon density, where carbon sequestration was 0.31  kg C m2 year−1. Carbon sequestration developed quickly in the first 5 cm of the layer, whereas deeper levels showed slower carbon synthesis. Moreover, the results show that lower soil density is related to the relatively high C stocks of the top soil layer (Kavehei et al. 2019). Rain gardens also provide raw materials through harvesting of the plants grown in the garden. (Yuan et al. 2022). Certain plant species employed to collect runoff from catchments and soil ecosystems developed in the soil media were also beneficial for biodiversity (Davis and McCuen 2005; Kavehei et  al. 2019). In a study examining the environmental and economic values of permeable pavement, bio-­ filtration press, plant microbial fuel cell system, and rain gardens in terms of water, energy, and food, the results showed that NbS create new opportunities for food and energy production, as well as cultural services. The highest physical and economic benefit was obtained from rain gardens (15 million/year) (Yuan et al. 2022).

4.7 Groundwater Recharge Another important contribution of rain gardens to urban circularity is their help to recharge groundwater due to its filtering properties (Aravena and Dussaillant 2009; Singh 2019; Venvik and Boogaard 2020) and prevent groundwater pollution (Kasprzyk et al. 2022). By creating permeable surfaces, rain gardens play a significant role in improvement of the water cycle in urban areas (Job 2022; Kasprzyk et al. 2022). According to international guidelines, rain gardens can leak rain water at a rate of 100–300 mm/s. To study the infiltration capacity of small scale rain gardens and

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infer the impact on groundwater level, wells were drilled at certain distances. An immediate increase (35–42 cm) in the groundwater level was observed in wells at locations closer than 30 m from the rain garden, whereas it took almost 2 days in the wells 75–100 m far from the rain garden for the groundwater level to increase by 20–25 cm (Venvik and Boogaard 2020). Another study about the groundwater recharge potential of permeable pavement and a rain garden site was carried out in Taipei, Taiwan, and found that rain gardens induced a delayed increase in the groundwater table compared to permeable pavement because of the thick soil layer. In addition, model results showed that infiltration was 15.9%, where 16% of the area was green, and 23.1% when 36% of the area was permeable pavement elevated to 91.4% when rain garden was built on 16% of the area (Chen et al. 2022).

4.8 Heat Island Effects By lowering heat storage on urban surfaces and raising evapotranspiration, green spaces in urban areas are regarded as a successful technique to reduce the impacts of urban heat islands (Imran et al. 2019). For instance, especially in heat wave periods, the temperature near urban areas was 12  °C higher than the temperature in green forest areas (Davis and McCuen 2005). In a study examining the cooling effects of green areas, it was observed that the cooling diameter was 300–400 m in the case of green area of size 100–400 m2 (Imran et al. 2019). Kasprzyk et al. (2022) studied the heat island situation with remote sensing. It was observed that the temperatures measured in the rain gardens were 3.5 °C lower than the playground and 7 °C lower than the parking lot. Moreover, the surface temperature of the rain garden was 7 °C lower than the surroundings in cloudy weather, while this difference reached up to 20 °C in sunny weather. Generally, it is proposed that green areas like rain gardens decrease heat island effect by increasing air humidity (Oral et al. 2021). According to Chapman et al. (2022), rain gardens were the second contributor of evapotranspiration following the turfgrass area (2.9–4 mm), and this high evapotranspiration was related to reducing heat island development.

4.9 Cost Benefit The cost and economic benefits of rain gardens have gained relatively limited attention compared to other benefits of rain gardens. Economical benefits of rain gardens could be predicted by calculating avoided costs from possible floods and from stormwater treatment (Siwiec et al. 2018). Nine green infrastructures in Michigan were considered to calculate capital, operation, and maintenance costs to reduce around 85 m2 runoff (Nordman et al. 2018). The cost of green infrastructures was found to be 11–29% more expensive than traditional infrastructures. However, the

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highest benefit of rain gardens originated from reduction in TSS pollution as 1.37$/ m3 water quality volume (WQv) per year and an increase in amenity value as 1.20$/ m3 WQv /year in addition to decrease in TP pollution and flood risk. The increase in amenity value was explained by the fact that the average value of the houses 50 m away from the rain gardens were reported to increase by 6%. Adding land prices to the costs and standardizing based on WQv, the net present value was found to be 36.87$/m3. Estimations indicated that rain gardens can pay off and even profit. In conclusion, rain gardens were found to be attractive due to low investment and operation costs. Indeed, it was stated that these costs could be reduced if rain gardens were not implemented by professional firms. At the same time, the positive net present value even in the worst scenario highlighted that rain gardens are less vulnerable. Moreover, in a modeling study (Cohen et al. 2012), the cost of gray infrastructure was compared with the cost of gray infrastructure coupled with rain garden, aiming to reduce combined sewer overflow. Integration of rain gardens into gray infrastructure lowered the cost over a 50-year period from $385 million to $350–363 million (in case 24,506–51,822 rain gardens were installed) where the number of rain gardens was also found feasible. In terms of final decision about soil media, Flynn and Traver (2013) revealed that reusing rain garden soil media costed $5544, whereas disposal of media costed $5994 in 2001, showing that reuse of soil media was a better option in terms of both environment and cost. Heidari et al. (2022) stated that cost assessment of rain gardens should not be limited to operation and maintenance costs only because of their strong potential to reduce the cost of nutrient removal compared to other green infrastructures. Another study supporting and expanding this statement (Law et  al. 2017) predicted that increasing green infrastructure including rain gardens in Pennsylvania would reduce stormwater management costs by $51.6 million over 25  years, energy costs by $2.37 million/year, air pollution management costs by $1 million/year, and CO2 reduction costs by $786,000. Furthermore, it was reported that rain gardens collecting stormwater and filtrating runoff reduced the annual water service fee from $60 to $0 and the stormwater discharge fee from $250 to $0. Also, before construction of the rain garden, the cost of rain water discharge into the sewer contained a fee payment of 220 €/year. So, with the rain garden achieving an average of 82% runoff volume reduction, considerable savings on sewer network construction could be achieved by the city, offsetting the missed income from discharge fees (Boguniewicz-­ Zabłocka and Capodaglio 2020).

4.10 Limitation and Challenges Having the benefits of mitigating the impacts of climate change and urban circularity challenges, on the one hand, rain gardens also have some limitations. According to a research that looked at urban ecosystem services under four different

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governance types (adaptive governance, mosaic governance, networked governance, and transformative governance), six small-scale urban green infrastructures (UGI) have a variety of benefits. The results of the study show that the demand for rain gardens by people who are planners and owners is decreasing as they can be expensive to set up and maintain. (Razzaghi Asl and Pearsall 2022). One of the most important technical restrictions about rain gardens is that they are not appropriate for rainfall with high return periods (Ekmekcioğlu et al. 2021). That is, the rain garden has limited capacity to decrease runoff volume, especially in climate change scenarios. For this reason, the rain garden cannot replace gray infrastructure but should be integrated with them (Wang et al. 2019b). Another situation that causes problems in the operation of rain gardens is the fine particles that come with rain water can cause clogging in the soil environment and thus reduce the infiltration rate of rain garden (Sharma and Malaviya 2021; Stander and Borst 2010). Similarly, according to Johnson and Hunt (2020), runoff volume reduction was observed in the rain gardens because of the high percentage of fine particles (62% silt and 13% clay) existing in the filter media. Moreover, some operational decisions that result in overusing compost, fertilizer, irrigation, or other common landscaping techniques, especially when the planted species are not well suited to a rain garden’s conditions, can accelerate the nutrient accumulation in the rain garden media and raise the contaminant concentrations in the stormwater that passes through the rain garden (Hurley et al. 2017; Taguchi et al. 2020). In addition, the vegetation in the rain garden can become diseased and die over time. In order to prevent this, accumulated sediments and dead plants must be removed regularly (Sharma and Malaviya 2021). Stagnant water in rain gardens is considered as another challenge since it might cause accidental drowning, serve as a breeding area for various insects such as mosquitoes, attract creatures such as rodents, raccoons, and opossums, and cause groundwater pollution if it is not separated from the groundwater table (Anderson et al. 2018; Sharma and Malaviya 2021). Looking at the disadvantages observed in terms of pollutant removal, it was seen that salt in rain water disrupts the capability of soils to remove metals, especially for Zn-contaminated rain water (Costello et al. 2020). Besides, it is very important to understand that metals do not biodegrade and only adsorb on soil media. Therefore, heavy metals in surface runoff are not treated but only change phase and shift the pollution risk from aquatic to terrestrial ecosystems. In fact, higher soil metal concentrations were seen in old rain gardens (Ekmekcioğlu et al. 2021). In a study, heavy metals associated with resuspended road dust particles from LID construction sites were analyzed (Ma et al. 2020). According to the results, the maximum amount of road dust from the construction of the rain gardens was produced during the excavation phase and reached levels 41.92 times higher than the relevant background values. So, suitable precautions should be taken to remove road dust during LID construction such as increasing the road cleaning frequency and covering the exposed area with geotextile.

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4.11 Conclusions Rain gardens can be implemented as NbS to provide various adaptations to both climate change and urban circularity challenges. The most well-known and documented benefit of rain gardens is detention and infiltration of surface runoff. The resulting reduced outflow reaching sewer systems eliminates the possibility of system failure and spreading of untreated wastewater. Therefore, rain gardens could be regarded as a useful NbS to respond to increased flood risks in cities caused by climate change and urbanization. Furthermore, enhanced infiltration can address water shortages due to climate change and urbanization. Thus, rain gardens serve to maintain the natural water cycle, save a valuable fresh water source, groundwater from depletion, and overcome an important urban circularity challenge. In addition to managing stormwater quantitatively, rain gardens are also efficient in improving water quality, which is defined as another urban circularity challenge. Common contaminants found in urban runoff like suspended solids, nitrogen, phosphorus, heavy metals, and pathogens are efficiently removed where treatment of some other microcontaminants like microplastics, pesticides, and PAHs is possible. Attention was drawn to the fact that heavy metals are not actually treated but only transferred from water to soil media, so the contamination load of soil needs to be considered. Plants are determined to be an important component of rain gardens, increasing hydraulic permeability, treating contaminants, sequestering carbon, decreasing heat island effect, and providing biodiversity and many other ecosystem services such as photosynthesis, air quality regulation, pollination, and aesthetics. With the growing need to decrease greenhouse gas emissions to mitigate the impacts of climate change, carbon sequestration has become very essential. Rain gardens are NbS with a smaller carbon footprint since they fix carbon by plants and soil. Additionally, carbon emissions of rain gardens are mainly due to transport, so using local materials can minimize the carbon footprint of rain gardens significantly. Similar to water cycle, biodiversity is indispensable for circularity and sustainability, but it is threatened severely by climate change and urbanization. Rain gardens could support biodiversity functionally by accommodating several species like birds, insects, plants, molluscs, and chilopods. Although indisputable contributions to flood control and water treatment, there are also other ecosystem services that rain gardens provide like erosion control, pest control, raw material supply, education, and recreation. As green areas in cities, they promote cooler areas to prevent urban heat island effect, which is a significant adaptation to climate change and circularity. Cost benefits of rain gardens can be estimated by the cost saved by avoidance of floods, water contamination, and stormwater fee. The main limitation of rain gardens is that they cannot handle precipitation heavier than 20–50  mm. Therefore, they are not effective as an individual application but could be very beneficial if used in a combination with other NbS. Clogging of soil media and maintenance of plants are defined as points that need careful operation. Moreover, if the rain garden does not drain fast enough, and stagnant water pools in the rain garden, it might cause smell and attract mosquitos which in turn reduce the social acceptance.

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Chapter 5

The Employment of Rain Gardens in Urban Water Management to Improve Biodiversity and Ecosystem Resilience Makbulenur Onur

Abstract The planet has managed the water cycle for centuries. However, the complex and advanced technologies developed by humans introduced several innovations that their survival depends on, which in turn destroyed the natural system, especially the water cycle. As a result, the smooth functioning of natural cycles could not be sustained. Certain water management applications have been proposed to resolve this problem. The aim of this chapter is to determine the benefits of rain gardens for ecosystem resilience, biodiversity, and water management/economy, the correlations between these factors based on a measurable method, and to design and develop a sustainable model proposal. In the study, previous studies were reviewed, and alternative criteria clusters were developed. Various statistical and graphical analyses were conducted on these criteria. The significant parameters in rain garden design were determined with the analytical hierarchical process (AHP) method, and these parameters were compared. A decision-making mechanism was developed with the AHP method. Based on the study’s findings, a sustainable rain garden design model was proposed. Keywords Water management · Water cycle · Rain garden design

5.1

Introduction

Water, which is the basic source of life for millions of living beings on earth, is accepted as a strategic resource in the future by all (Pamuk Mengü and Akkuzu 2008). The excessive water consumption and the destruction of freshwater habitats led to several problems, including climate change (WWF 2019; Atanasova et  al. M. Onur (*) Faculty of Forestry, Department of Landscape Architecture, Karadeniz Technical University, Trabzon, Turkey e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 A. Stefanakis et al. (eds.), Nature-based Solutions for Circular Management of Urban Water, Circular Economy and Sustainability, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-50725-0_5

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2021). Problems in the water cycle led to high air temperatures that affected water quality and obstructed the access of individuals and ecosystems to fresh water in coastal areas (CSB 2018; Kim et al. 2021). The scarcity of water resources is among the most important challenges in the twenty-first century. Sustainability of water resources is the leading factor for several issues such as food and energy security, economic growth, climate change, and loss of biodiversity. If all the water on Earth were put in a 5-L bottle, the fresh water that humans can access would be merely one tablespoon. In other words, the amount of accessible fresh water is less than 1% of the global water resources (Pamuk Mengü and Akkuzu 2008; WWF 2019; CSB 2018; Kim et al. 2021). The presence of sufficient and high-quality water is the basic requirement of freshwater ecosystems, as well as food security and sustainable development; and thus, the future of humanity. Therefore, limited water resources or excessive consumption of water are among the most significant global problems. Preservation of freshwater resources is a common global problem (WWF 2019). It was expected that these problems would include lower and shorter precipitation when compared to previous years. On the other hand, an increase in precipitation could lead to floods (IPCC 2016). Water quality and quantity will deteriorate due to floods and droughts. It is predicted that human health and ecosystems will be adversely affected (IPCC 2016). Several ecological approaches have been proposed to solve the abovementioned problems (Gulpinar Sekban and Acar 2021). Today, sustainable development plans are developed with the nature-based solutions (NbS), vertical greening systems (Castellar et al. 2020), green roofs (GRs) (Poórová and Vranayová 2019; Bianchini and Hewage 2012), low-impact development (LID) (Dietz 2007; Ahiablame et al. 2012), and sustainable drainage systems (SuDS) (Zhou 2014; McClymont et  al. 2020; Pappalardo and La Rosa 2020) approach that provides significant cost-­ effective methods to avoid structural interventions (Sahani et al. 2019). Furthermore, there is strong scientific evidence on the contribution of NbS to natural life, and several studies recommend the employment of the method at various scales (Keesstra et al. 2018). Thus, NbS are proven to be effective in the reduction of the pressure on nature with urban management and nature-oriented approaches (Escobedo et  al. 2019; Kalantari et al. 2019; Meshram et al. 2021; Ramírez-Agudelo et al. 2020). The most significant application developed for this purpose includes “rain gardens” (Bekar et  al. 2020; Dietz 2005). Rain gardens are landscaped depressions where grass, flowers, and various plants are cultivated to collect rainwater from rooftops or streets, enabling the rainwater to seep into the ground. Rain gardens could also filter pollutants in the flow and provide nutrients and shelter for butterflies, songbirds, and other wildlife (USEPA 2014a, b). Rainwater harvesting and storage for later use is a technique that has been employed for thousands of years (Kloss 2008). Engineering and technological developments started in the 1990s. Rain gardens were originally developed by Maryland in Prince George’s County in the 1990s. The rationale of the garden was based on a form of biological containment that includes a sloped landmass at a source downstream (Roy-Poirier et al. 2010).

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The management of rainwater with “rain gardens” has been implemented on many scales around the world. There are several examples where biodiversity has improved by the harvesting and storage of rainwater with micro-scale water harvest methods. For example, in Seattle’s urban landscape, 185 million liters of water are recycled with rainwater management. The project aimed to manage the rainwater and surface runoff with the employment of green urban infrastructure (PAD 2017; GIS 2021). On a smaller scale, successful rainwater management was implemented in Tanner Spring Park. The Tanner Spring Park water-holding area was built to hold rainwater in 0.92 ha. In the park, instead of discharging the rainwater with drainage pipes, the water is filtered by plants (PAD 2017). The sponge city strategy, implemented as a model in the New Longhua District, streamlined water management. Thus, rainwater flows slowly downstream and eventually reaches the urban environment and the eco-net (PAD 2017; Landscape Record 2015). The smallest scale implementation is the Pocket Park in Utrecht, Netherlands. The pocket park retains water during heavy rains. It was designed as a collection and storage area for use during periods without precipitation. Rainwater is directed from the roofs of the surrounding buildings to the reserve via the gutters and drainage pipes and collected in the water reservoir. It is used as an amphitheater when it is empty. The crops of local farmers are irrigated with the rainwater collected in this reservoir (PAD 2017). The abovementioned examples are just a few of the previous applications. According to the experts, rain gardens, one of the most successful practices to eliminate the scarcity of water, could be considered an urban lifesaver. Bekar et al., in a study conducted in a campus in 2020 (Bekar et al. 2020), revealed that the rain garden proposed by the authors would save significant economic costs for the university in the short term. The study revealed that the right application of the rain gardens would amortize the costs and yield a profit in a short time. The gardens constructed in shallow pits that collect untreated rainwater to grow plants are called rain gardens. The system is a rational, strategic, and easy application based on the principle of the prevention of rainwater loss with ground flow and to allow the rainwater to penetrate the soil at the location of precipitation (USEPA 2014a, b). Also known as a bioretention or bioretention cell, a rain garden collects runoff from the roofs, streets, sidewalks, and other impermeable surfaces, leading the water to a shallow, plant-covered pond. Often, rooted native plants and herbs are planted in rain gardens to maximize rainwater penetration (Keys 2015).

5.2 Rain Garden Design Principles Several reasons such as unplanned urbanization, including complex demands of urbanization, environmental degradation, etc. led to the spread of impermeable surfaces and serious rainwater problems (URL-1; Pille and Säumel 2021; Maksimovic and Tejada-Guibert 2001). The development of holistic rainwater drainage strategies is required when rainwater volume increases in surface flow, rainwater flow decreases, urban areas are exposed to floods and overflows, water that reaches the

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groundwater, and quality of surface water decreases (URL-1). Several design approaches have been implemented for this purpose. These approaches contribute to the concept of sustainability. It was suggested that sustainability is the most significant approach to ensure the well-being of future generations (Bayramoğlu and Demirel 2016; Kasim and Scarlat 2007). However, individuals’ desire for the built environment has sometimes misled this concept. Hospitals consume large volumes of water in recreational facilities such as pools, spas, fountains, ornamental pools, and landscape irrigation (Kasim and Scarlat 2007; Müftüoglu and Perçin 2015; Mala et al. 2020). These are only a few examples of dysfunctional water consumption. Urbanization is also a part of this consumption trend. The impact of urbanization on the rainwater cycle is presented in Fig.  5.1. The rainwater discharge to surface flow is around 10% in rural areas, while the same is 55% in urban centers. The direct discharge of rainwater to rivers increases flooding and overflows. The destruction of the natural cycle of water has introduced several problems. Rainwater discharge to the surface flow leads to significant pollution, which in turn pollutes the receiving environment, namely the drinking water resources. The serious decrease in the water volume that reaches the groundwater reduces the drinking water supply. Due to the increase in impermeable surfaces, pipe diameter has been increased to collect the rainwater in the surface flow, leading to significant construction and maintenance costs (URL-1; Mala et al. 2020). Bioretention areas are similar to rain gardens; however, the latter are highly engineered to include an underdrain, overflow inlet, gravel bed, and engineered soil to promote infiltration (USEPA 2014a, b; Mala et al. 2020). More complex rain gardens with drainage systems and replaced soil are often called biological retention cells (USEPA 2014a, b).

Fig. 5.1  The impact of urbanization on rainwater cycle

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The rain garden slows the runoff and provides a chance for retention of the runoff by the soil. Once permeated into the soil, the water is absorbed by the surface plants or may seep deeper into the soil and eventually finds its way into the groundwater or nearby streams. The soil is first dug, mixed with organic matter and sand, and the original pit is filled. To prevent water pooling for longer than 24–48 h, certain rain gardens are constructed to include a tile drainage system at the bottom of the garden (Lancaster 2008; PAD 2017). Generally, rain gardens include three zones (Fig. 5.2). Rain harvest entails all methods developed to collect and consume the surface flow of precipitation, as an alternative to the employment of unsustainable groundwater in irrigation and domestic use. Rain harvest has several ecological and recreational benefits such as the improvement of the soil, groundwater discharge, agricultural production, and productivity in times of drought, allowing the reproduction of fish and plants in the ponds and developing a habitat for waterfowls, with side benefits such as complementary food forest and increase in ground cover and organic soil content (PAD 2017; RHS 2021).

Fig. 5.2  Rain garden layers

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Rain gardens constructed on the principle of “recycling” the rainwater could have several benefits. In the present study, these benefits are grouped into three sections: “ecosystem resilience, biodiversity, and water management/economy.” These categories were determined based on the literature review. The reason for choosing these criteria is these are among the most mentioned benefits of rain gardens in the literature. These parameters used are among the most basic benefits. For this reason, the parameters are given priority (Table 5.1).

5.3 Research Objective Rain gardens/bioretention systems, which aim to provide an alternative to traditional water management, are among the solutions to the increasing pressures on water supply. The common objective of these methods is to resolve the current pressures on the “water cycle.” It has been demonstrated in several studies that these problems are not limited to nations or cities but led to global problems. Thus, dozens of studies have been conducted on rain gardens. However, most were theoretical studies where the implementation stages and benefits of rain gardens were discussed. The present study aims to emphasize the necessity of rain gardens and associated design strategies. A different grouping approach was adopted to provide an alternative to the studies in the literature (ER, B, WME). Furthermore, unlike previous studies, the benefits of rain gardens were analyzed statistically. As a result, a model that depended on statistically significant parameters was proposed. Thus, the study aims to achieve several objectives with this method: • To determine the benefits of rain gardens for “ecosystem resilience (ER), biodiversity, and water management/economy”. • To provide a measurement of the significance of rain gardens for biodiversity, ecosystem resilience, and water management. • To determine the significant parameters based on the comparison of the abovementioned benefits. • To propose a novel model based on a statistical method and the parameters that were considered prevalent in previous studies.

5.4 The Research Method The methodology included three stages: (1) the determination of the rain garden parameters that affect ecosystem resilience, biodiversity, and water management/ economy; (2) statistical method – analytical hierarchical process (AHP); and (3) the development of a sample design based on the first- and second-stage findings (Fig. 5.3).

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Table 5.1  The ecosystem resilience, biodiversity, and water management benefits of rain gardens Main criteria Ecosystem resilience

Biodiversity

Contributions Reduction of the urban heat island effect Allowing the penetration of rainwater into groundwater by pooling Preservation of hydrological functions in urban areas Contribution to the disrupted urban water cycle Permeance of rainwater minerals and plant nutrients into the soil Prevention of soil loss Preservation of the humidity in the environment Improvement of water quality

Preservation of freshwater sources

Providing an ecological solution for rainwater harvesting Attraction of insects, birds, and butterflies due to higher planting levels Providing opportunities to plant a wide range of perennials Providing a habitat for natural pollinators Supply and enrichment of groundwater The seed resource value of the plants Absorption of up to 30% more water when compared to a lawn Water management Contribution to national and global /economy economy Promotion of alternative water resources Economic rainwater harvesting Reduction in garden maintenance Lack of irrigation requirements Water savings An economic sustainable drainage solution Survival in drought

Study USEPA (2010, 2014a, b) USEPA (2014a, b) and Keys (2015) USEPA (2014a, b) USEPA (2014a, b) and Turkelboom et al. (2021) USEPA (2014a, b) USEPA (2016) Keys (2015)

Keys (2015) and USEPA (2016) USEPA (2014a, b) Atanasova et al. (2021), USEPA (2014a, b) and Ustün et al. (2020) Sevimli (2021) and USEPA (2010) CSB (2018), USEPA (2010, 2016) and RHS (2021) RHS (2021) CSB (2018), USEPA (2014a, b) and RHS (2021) CSB (2018) and RHS (2021) CSB (2018) RHS (2021) CSB (2018) Tundisi and Tundisi (2016) CSB (2018) and Keys (2015) RHS (2021) RHS (2021) RHS (2021) CSB (2018), Keys (2015) and Tundisi and Tundisi (2016) RHS (2021)

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Fig. 5.3  The study flowchart

All stages were implemented consecutively, and each stage was based on the previous one. In stage 1, the criteria were developed based on the literature review, and in the second stage, the correlations between these criteria were measured with statistical methods. Based on the data collected in these two stages, a design proposal was developed in the final stage. The study flowchart is presented in Fig. 5.3.

5.4.1 The First Stage, Determination of the Parameters In the present study, a comprehensive literature review was conducted on rain gardens. The literature review revealed the 24 most discussed benefits of rain gardens for ecosystem resilience (ER), biodiversity (B), water management/economy (WME) were selected (Table 5.2) (USEPA 2010, 2014a, b; URL-1, CSB 2018; RHS 2021; Turkelboom et  al. 2021; Sevimli 2021; Tundisi and Tundisi 2016). These benefits were coded as 24 parameters, and 3 main criteria and 24 sub-criteria were determined (Table 5.2).

5.4.2 The Second Stage, Statistical Analysis In the second stage, the statistical methodology was employed to determine the correlations between the criteria identified in the literature review. The main problem encountered in multi-criteria decision-making problems is the determination of the weight, significance or superiority of the alternative criteria during the criteria selection. Since AHP is a powerful method for solving this problem, it was employed in the present study (Gülenç and Aydin Bilgin 2010; Dağdeviren and Yüksel 2008) (Fig. 5.3). AHP assists individuals or groups to make decisions under complex circumstances. In the analysis, a hierarchy of criteria, in other words, a decision model, was developed initially (Fig. 5.4). In the model, the highest hierarchy included the

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Table 5.2  Created main and sub-criteria Main criteria Ecosystem resilience (ER) ER1 ER2 ER3 ER4 ER5 ER6 ER7 ER8 Biodiversity (B) B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8 Water management/economy (WME) WME1 WME2 WME3 WME4 WME5 WME6 WME7 WME8

Reduction of the urban heat island effect Allowing the penetration of rainwater to groundwater by pooling Preservation of hydrological functions in urban areas Contribution to the disrupted urban water cycle Permeance of rainwater minerals and plant nutrients into the soil Prevention of soil loss Preservation of the humidity in the environment Improvement of water quality Preservation of freshwater sources Providing an ecological solution for rainwater harvesting Providing opportunities to plant a wide range of perennials Attraction of insects, birds, and butterflies due to higher planting levels Providing a habitat for natural pollinators Supply and enrichment of groundwater The seed resource value of the plants Absorption of up to 30% more water when compared to a lawn Contribution to national and global economy Promotion of alternative water resources Economic rainwater harvesting Reduction in garden maintenance Lack of irrigation requirements Water savings An economic sustainable drainage solution Survival in drought

USEPA (2010, 2014a, b), URL-1, CSB (2018), RHS (2021), Turkelboom et al. (2021), Sevimli (2021) and Tundisi and Tundisi (2016)

“objective” (rain garden in urban water management). This was followed by the three “criteria” or “alternatives,” developed based on the literature review (ecosystem resilience, biodiversity, and water management/economy). Alternatives were categorized into three groups based on the literature review. The solution path was determined by the AHP in the criterion groups. AHP analysis determines the prominence of the 24 scale criteria based on the criterion weight.

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Fig. 5.4  Criteria matrix chart

After the hierarchy was determined, the comparative parameters were identified. In other words, the pairwise comparison was employed to determine the relative significance of the items in the hierarchy when compared to the items in the next level. The decision-­maker could employ the scale scored between 1 and 9 points to determine the paired comparison parameters. In other words, the significance of criterion A could be determined when compared to the criterion B (Palaz et  al. 2008). This is the numerical stage where expert opinion is obtained. The criteria are compared with the other criteria and all alternatives Dağdeviren and Eren (2001) to determine the differences (Dağdeviren and Eren 2001).

5.4.3 The Third Stage, the Design of “the Sample Rain Garden” In the first and second stages, the main parameters and the sub-parameters were determined based on literature review and statistical analysis. A sample rain garden was designed based on these parameters. The design prioritized decision-making that would emphasize the abovementioned parameters. The design is discussed based on the layers. The parameters determined with the statistical method were designed within the layers.

5.5 Findings The present study findings are presented based on the procedures detailed in the methodology section: the development of parameters, AHP analysis results, and sample rain garden design.

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5.5.1 AHP Analysis Findings The numerical AHP analysis results are presented in Table 5.3. The same numerical data are schematized in Figs. 5.5 and 5.6. The AHP analysis results for the ecosystem resilience criteria demonstrated that the highest weight was observed in “ER1 – reduction of the urban heat island effect (.422)” criterion. This was followed by the “ER2 – allowing the penetration of rainwater to groundwater by pooling (.115)” and “ER3 – preservation of hydrological functions in urban areas (.089)” criteria. The lowest weight was observed in the “ER7 – preservation of the humidity in the environment” criterion (Table 5.3). The AHP analysis results for the biodiversity criteria demonstrated that the highest findings were observed in B1 – preservation of freshwater sources (0.193), B2 – providing an ecological solution for rainwater harvesting (0.168), and B4 – attraction of insects, birds, and butterflies due to higher planting level (0.159) criteria. The lowest weight was observed in the “B8 – absorption of up to 30% more water when compared to a lawn (0.053)” criterion (Table 5.3). The AHP analysis results for the water management/economy criteria, the highest weight was observed in “WME1 – contribution to national and global economy” (0.394), WME2 – promotion of alternative water resources (0.159), and WME4 – reduction in garden maintenance (0.112) criteria (Table 5.3).

5.5.2 Sample Rain Garden Design The contribution of rain gardens to the ecosystem has been emphasized in numerous studies. In the present study, the contribution of rain gardens was categorized based on the study’s objective, literature review, and statistical analysis. As a result, a sample rain garden model was proposed and presented in Fig. 5.5. There are several parameters that should be considered before the construction of a rain garden. Climatic features, soil properties, topographic features, and plant maps are just a few of these parameters (Maksimovic and Tejada-Guibert 2001). The model proposed in the present study could serve as an example for these parameters. The rain garden layers and the objectives of these layers are presented in the figure. In the methodology phase, the inclusion of the criteria, determined based on the literature review and statistical analyses, in the rain garden layers and their functions are presented in Fig. 5.5. To provide an example of these parameters, allowing the penetration of rainwater to groundwater by pooling (ER2) and the layers with hydrological functions (ER3 and ER5) were schematized. Fragrant, colorful, and fruit plants were employed to attract insects, birds, and butterflies, in other words, the fauna to the garden (B4). For the seed source function (B7), species with seed sustainability were preferred. The lack of irrigation requirements and water-saving

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Table 5.3  Comparison between criteria with AHP Main criteria

Ecosystem Resilience Main criteria

Biodiversity Main criteria

Water Management Economy

Code ER1 ER2 ER3 ER4 ER5 ER6 ER7 ER8

Total weight criteria 0,534 0,059 0,059 0,059 0,059 0,076 0,076 0,076

0,711 0,079 0,026 0,079 0,026 0,026 0,026 0,026

0,546 0,182 0,061 0,020 0,061 0,061 0,009 0,061

Code B1 B2 B3 B4 B5 B6 B7 B8

0,338 0,113 0,113 0,338 0,038 0,013 0,038 0,013

0,276 0,118 0,039 0,355 0,118 0,039 0,013 0,039

0,206 0,088 0,206 0,265 0,088 0,088 0,029 0,029

0,250 0,107 0,036 0,321 0,107 0,107 0,036 0,036

0,066 0,197 0,066 0,329 0,197 0,066 0,013 0,066

0,040 0,119 0,278 0,119 0,198 0,198 0,040 0,008

0,042 0,125 0,042 0,208 0,208 0,125 0,208 0,042

0,256 0,142 0,199 0,199 0,142 0,028 0,006 0,028

0,230 0,128 0,179 0,179 0,128 0,128 0,026 0,004

0,196 0,109 0,152 0,152 0,109 0,109 0,152 0,022

Total weight criteria 0,158 0,023 0,032 0,158 0,158 0,158 0,158 0,158

0,656 0,094 0,031 0,094 0,031 0,031 0,031 0,031

,401 0,240 0,080 0,027 0,080 0,080 0,011 0,080

Code WME1 WME2 WME3 WME4 WME5 WME6 WME7 WME8

0,513 0,171 0,171 0,057 0,006 0,057 0,006 0,019

0,101 0,304 0,304 0,101 0,034 0,101 0,034 0,020

0,080 0,239 0,239 0,239 0,080 0,027 0,080 0,016

Total weight criteria 0,563 0,063 0,063 0,063 0,063 0,063 0,063 0,063

0,754 0,084 0,012 0,084 0,017 0,017 0,017 0,017

0,485 0,378 0,054 0,006 0,054 0,008 0,008 0,008

0,352 0,196 0,352 0,039 0,008 0,039 0,006 0,008

0,317 0,176 0,246 0,176 0,035 0,007 0,035 0,007

Mean criterion weight 0,422 0,115 0,089 0,187 0,063 0,058 0,029 0,037 Mean criterion weight 0,193 0,168 0,134 0,159 0,123 0,098 0,072 0,053 Mean criterion weight 0,394 0,159 0,157 0,112 0,069 0,050 0,039 0,019

Fig. 5.5  Charts of main and sub-criteria

and drought-resistant plants (WME4, WME5, WME6, and WME8) were preferred. To prevent soil loss (ER6), taxa that hold onto the soil and perennial taxa with high pollen were selected (B3 and B5).

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Fig. 5.6  Criteria network analysis

The difference between this design and those presented in previous studies in the literature was the fact that it was based on parameters based on a statistical approach and literature review. As explained in the methodology, the parameters were prioritized with the multivariate decision-making method (AHP). Then, the sample design was constructed based on the primary parameters (Fig. 5.7).

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Fig. 5.7  The rain garden layers and their purposes

5.6 Discussion Rain gardens are alternative green infrastructure systems to gray infrastructures and could allow ecological sustainability and provide solutions to the problems caused by impermeable urban surfaces. Previous scientific studies demonstrated that a water-sensitive urban design approach should be adopted to facilitate the access of rainwater that becomes irregular due to environmental problems to groundwater and to prevent floods due to heavy precipitation. Hoyer et al. (2011) emphasized the significance of rainwater management in the improvement of the peace and quality of life in cities, consistent with the  WME criteria selected in the present study. Katsifarakis et al. (2015) focused on the basic properties of rain gardens (Katsifarakis et al. 2015), Müftüoglu and Perçin (2015) focused on the aesthetic and functional importance of rain gardens, while Avdan (2015) discussed environmental, economic, and social aspects. Scientific studies mentioned above focused on various benefits of rain gardens. For example, certain

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were on aesthetic; others were on psychological, economic, etc. benefits. In the present study, based on a comprehensive literature review, the prevalent parameters in previous studies were grouped and prioritized based on a statistical method, filling an important gap in the literature. This could also be considered as a difference between the present study and the others.

5.7 Conclusion Human contribution is significant in several ecological pressures that complicate and even threaten the lives of all living beings. Even though it is humans who disrupt the natural balance, humans should prevent the consequences, and protect and adapt to the new situation to survive. Human demands increase every day, leading to several problems. Technological advances, industrialization, consumption of natural resources, and population growth promoted several problems and made it impossible to survive on earth with sustainable resources. Various studies emphasize that only natural solutions can prevent the demise of the world and underscore the power of nature itself to heal both itself and its inhabitants. (GIS 2013; Reeve et al. 2017). It could be suggested based on the analyses conducted in the present study that the development of a sustainable water management system based on the three basic dimensions of ecosystem resilience, biodiversity, and water management/economy could contribute to the sustainability of life significantly (USEPA 2010, 2014a, b; URL-1; CSB 2018; RHS 2021; Turkelboom et al. 2021; Sevimli 2021; Tundisi and Tundisi 2016). The data collected from the experts were grouped with the analytical hierarchical process (AHP) method (Saaty and Vargas 2001). The prominence of the parameters based on weight was determined, and the parameters were categorized. The three main criteria [ecosystem resilience (ER), biodiversity (B), and water management/economy (WME)] were investigated based on the 24 sub-criteria. The findings revealed the following: In the ecosystem resilience group, the highest weight was determined in the ER1 – reduction of the urban heat island effect (0.422) criterion. It could be observed that the reduction of the urban heat island factor had a significant impact on decision-­ making in rain garden design. The highest result obtained with this parameter was due to climate change and urban heat island effect, which affect the whole world and play a key role in the global water cycle. This was followed by the ER2 – allowing the penetration of rainwater to groundwater by pooling (0.115) and ER3 – preservation of hydrological functions in urban areas (0.089) criteria. The common denominator in these two parameters was the functional water recycling. It was observed that the weight of these two parameters was higher when compared to the others in the rain garden design. It was observed that the highest parameters were generally in the “ecosystem resilience” group. This could be due to the effective recovery of water in the ecosystem.

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The highest weight among the biodiversity criteria was observed in the “B1 – preservation of freshwater sources” criterion (0.193). It could be suggested that the possible reduction in freshwater resources in the near future affected the weight of this criterion. It is important to preserve freshwater in the decisive stage in rain garden design. Other important parameters included B2 – providing an ecological solution for rainwater harvesting (0.168) and B4  – attraction of insects, birds, and butterflies due to higher planting levels (0.159). The fact that rain gardens provide an ecological solution and could host was an important design parameter. The findings in the water management/economy category, the highest weight was observed in WME1  – contribution to national and global economy (0.394), WME2 – promotion of alternative water resources (0.159), and WME4 – reduction in garden maintenance (0.112) criteria. Based on these findings, it could be suggested that these three parameters were more significant when compared to the others in the water management/economy category. The fact that these parameters had the highest weight in the WME category suggested that this problem was no longer a problem associated with a nation or a city, but became a global problem. As indicated in several studies, the findings demonstrated that solutions with global benefits are required. The rain garden design, a sustainable model developed in the last stage of the study, provides an example for future studies. In rain garden design, there are several parameters of consideration, in addition to those discussed in the current study since every design is unique to the study area. However, the design developed in the present study provides an alternative approach to the implementation of the primary criteria in the garden and the analysis of various criteria in the process. The most important approach in the solution was the comparison and prioritization of the parameters before the design phase.

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Chapter 6

A Study of Nature-Based Solutions via a Thematic Analysis of the Stakeholders’ Perceptions to Address Water Scarcity in a Hot and Semiarid Climate: A Case Study of Iran Amir Gholipour, Leyla Beglou, and Seyed M. Heidari Abstract Water scarcity is an old and long-term problem in the Middle East, especially in Iran, where water shortage has been a challenge for over a decade. Insecurity to access water resources has been amplified due to climate change and unbalanced and unsustainable economic development, influencing the environment and society. In this study, we conducted multiple semi-structured interviews with stakeholders, including academics investigating water shortage, NGOs, states, water consultant companies, farmers, people who face direct and indirect water scarcity, and locals dealing with water scarcity in Iran. These semi-structured 16 interviews were transcribed into text and excerpts, and a hybrid thematic analysis comprising inductive and deductive approaches was employed for the transcription assessment. The thematic analysis of Iranian’s stakeholders was conducted to identify barriers and enablers of potential solutions. The frequency of common comments (Fr) was counted to realize the importance of each reply. The thematic analysis revealed 45 drivers of water scarcity, including precipitation reduction (Fr = 14), water transmission (12), illegal underground water utilization (12), dam overconstruction (12), drought (12), high water consumption in agriculture (11), and climate change (10). The main goal of this study is to map the water scarcity problem in Iran based on stakeholders’ viewpoints, which can be helpful for researchers and policymakers to understand the situation and define applicable solutions. This research also discussed A. Gholipour (*) LEAF – Linking Landscape, Environment, Agriculture and Food, Instituto Superior de Agronomia (ISA), University of Lisbon, Lisbon, Portugal e-mail: [email protected] L. Beglou Kharazmi University, Tehran, Iran S. M. Heidari University of Michigan, College of Engineering, Ann Arbor, MI, USA e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 A. Stefanakis et al. (eds.), Nature-based Solutions for Circular Management of Urban Water, Circular Economy and Sustainability, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-50725-0_6

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the application of nature-based solutions (NbS), NbS benefits, supportive laws, NbS barriers, and enablers. The stakeholders’ perception showed that multiple intracommunity actions should be considered to address the current water crisis. Keywords  Nature-based solution (NbS) · Water shortage · Semi-structured interview · NbS barriers · NbS enablers

6.1 Introduction Water resources have become scarcer over the past decade. Availability of freshwater changes swiftly all around the globe, leading to water security (access to sufficient quality of safe water) and a tenuous future (Hoekstra et al. 2018). Studies such as the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment (GRACE) by NASA, launched in 2002, showed that dry regions are getting drier and wet regions are getting wetter (Kornfeld et al. 2019). Based on GRACE, the world’s higher latitudes, like in the northern half of the United States, and the lower latitudes, such as the global tropics, are gaining water. In contrast, the mid-latitudes and the semiarid belt in between are simultaneously losing water. Global demo-geographical data shows most of the earth’s population resides in the mid-semiarid sandwiched belt (Hodgson 2004). Thus, water security risks can impact a wide range of Earth residents and, more drastically, in the Middle Eastern region like Iran, which is in a hot and semiarid climate. Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) predicted a similar pattern that will extend to the end of the twenty-first century, mainly due to climate change (Smith et al. 2009). Apart from climate change, other factors are stressing the scarcity of water resources, among which population growth, increase in water demand, poor water management, and uneven combined development of industries and agricultural practices are the main drivers, and they trigger potentially a water crisis on the next level (Madani 2014). Water is an element of life, and its scarcity constrains essential priorities, including the right to access clean water and sanitation and the conservation of habitat and biodiversity. Water-related problems threaten arid and semiarid regions of the earth, and Iran is no exception (Saatsaz 2020). Likewise, having sufficient water resources makes water-intensive industries and agricultural practices feasible. Water scarcity impacts economic development and imposes zero-sum compromises in the allocation of water between, on the one hand, food and energy and, on the other hand, commercial commodities and services (Gheuens et al. 2019). The scarcity also challenges governmental bodies to wisely distribute financial resources among high-­ value industries or other productive capacities, limiting long-term development (Loucks 2000). Meanwhile, climate change has been exacerbating access to water resources and increasing the risk of success in long-term territorial and national strategies. Since climate change impacts and the rate of getting drier (GRACE) cannot be predicted to liaise long-term strategy for the development with climate

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change (Kornfeld et al. 2019), rethinking water resource management according to the potential risks of climate transition would alleviate the drawbacks of the long-­ term strategies. Water sources would be differently managed to cope with water shortage, and alternative solutions can break through the barriers to address insufficient access to water via a transition from a linear economy to a circular system (Sauvé et al. 2021). Linear water resource management consists of water extraction, water use, and water disposal, which is an unsustainable approach and is still common in many parts of the world. On the one hand, resources are taken without replacement in the linear strategy, and on the other hand, surface and groundwater resources are contaminated through unwanted pollutants. Occurring and emerging pollutants are excreting from many sources to the natural bodies, of which pollutants from the urban environment, industrial complexes, agricultural practices, and meat and dairy production facilities are the prime sources. Nonetheless, the linear approach can no longer be an efficient tactic for the current water scarcity around the globe. The linear approach, therefore, ought to be revised and evolved to a circular paradigm in which, reduce, reuse, and recycle (3Rs) are pondered as the key principles (Mohanty 2011). Previous studies have proposed various techniques to reduce water consumption at different levels, such as in urban congestion, industries, and agricultural sectors (Randolph and Troy 2008). An illustration of water management and reduction in an urban environment is rainwater harvesting, although it depends on climate conditions (Campisano et al. 2017). Modifying and upgradation of irrigation techniques and the types of machinery are also frequent approaches, particularly in the agricultural field (Chartzoulakis and Bertaki 2015). Several strategies have been suggested to deal with water shortage in industries, of which an optimization in the manufacturing processes would also be a prevailing strategy (Klemeš 2012). To achieve an efficient 3Rs, nature’s capacity can contribute, which is nowadays well known as nature-based solutions (NbS) (Gholipour et al. 2022; Oral et al. 2020; Atanasova et al. 2021; Stefanakis et al. 2021). NbS has recently drawn attention to smart transit from linear to circular economy, specifically in the water domain (Pearlmutter et al. 2020; Smol et al. 2023). NbS units are a socio-ecological and socio-technical approach (Van der Jagt et al. 2020), providing various services for water pollution and treatment and further reuse like constructed wetlands (CW), which is a popular technology (Gholipour et  al. 2023b;  Kadlec et  al. 2000; Stefanakis 2022). Constructed wetlands, either in domestic water and wastewater management (Gaballah et al. 2021; Gholipour and Stefanakis 2021; Daee et al. 2019) or for the industrial disposed of streams of water (Schultze-Nobre et  al. 2017; Stefanakis 2020; Gholipour et al. 2020), has been shown as a cost-effective and environmentally friendly technology. NbS can also be integrated into watershed management (Ramírez-Agudelo et al. 2020; Kumwimba et al. 2023) at different levels and events, from stormwater collection, treatment, and reuse to ecosystem services such as preserving habitat and biodiversity. The role and impact of NbS in landscaping cannot be underestimated, empowering nature to address water scarcity (Addo-Bankas et al. 2022; Mendonça et al. 2021).

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Acquiring relevant water stakeholders’ perceptions is crucial to moving from the current water resources management to a circular system (Kislev 2013; Hosseinian and Nezamoleslami 2018). The stakeholders in agriculture and industry are the major consumers; on a global scale, they consume more than 70 percent of water resources (Salehi 2022). In Iran, the agricultural sector also has the highest water consumption (Yazdandoost 2016). Several studies have shown that although various agro-stakeholders play crucial roles in water scarcity, they think differently about the nature, causes, effects, and permanency of agricultural water poverty (Forouzani et al. 2013). Thus, the management and governing bodies have been struggling to define water scarcity challenges firstly and the trustworthiness between stakeholders and decision-makers has weakened, creating consecutive problems. In the industrial domain, many stakeholders are not aware of their role and impact on water resources, and their perspectives and approach, nevertheless, can contribute to achieving a circular paradigm using NbS (Piadeh et al. 2022). Within a circular strategy, sustainable solutions, e.g., NbS, can play an important role; however, the challenges, opportunities, and problems related to NbS have not been thoroughly studied, particularly for semiarid regions like Iran. The challenges of integrating NbS into the current water resource management are also not identified. The perceptions of various individuals regarding Iran’s water resource management must be obtained for a possible integration of a circular approach via NbS. Before this, the major drivers of water scarcity should be discussed with the individuals, and the solutions figured out to water scarcity require comprehensive analysis. The present study aims to acquire the perceptions of water-related stakeholders to identify potential solutions for the current water scarcity in Iran. Another goal is to analyze the possible application of NbS in Iran’s water resource management to achieve a circular water economy. The study will also provide enablers and barriers to NbS in developing countries like Iran.

6.2 Materials and Methods 6.2.1 A Case Study of Iran Iran is located at latitude 32.427908 and longitude 53.688046 with 1.648 million km2 and 85 million population in 2021, while Tehran, the capital city, has over 9 million population itself. The country is subdivided into 31 provinces, each governed by a local center, and the largest local city is called the capital of each province. The climate of Iran is mainly arid and semiarid, while the northern coastal areas and western parts are mild and relatively wet, especially on the coast of the Caspian Sea. Iran has an extreme continental climate with hot and

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dry summers, and in inland areas, icy winters occur. Therefore, the annual precipitation varies throughout the country, ranging from 35 (part of the central basin) to 1500 mm (some coastal areas near the Caspian Sea), while an average of 228 mm falls annually. The average temperature in the eastern region of Iran is 39  °C, the precipitation is less than 200  mm, and the most relatively scant annual precipitation falls between October and April (fall and winter). Several large rivers flow in Iran, such as the Karun River, which is navigable, while the others are too steep, and irregular rivers rarely receive runoffs. The Karun River extends for 890 km, flowing through the southwest to the Shatt al-Arab, formed by the Euphrates and Tigris after a confluence in Iraq. Iran has been suffering from enormous flood events, mainly during Spring, having destroyed the fundamental infrastructure of the country. However, water is naturally stored in underground resources and is lifted by several wells and subterranean water canals or aqueducts (Qanat). The impact of the evaporation rate on water scarcity is quite intense in Iran, estimated at 68% of the rainfall volume before reaching the rivers (The Statistical Centre of Iran 2020). More than 400 billion cubic meters (BCM) have been reported as an average annual rainfall in Iran, of which 120 BCM is estimated as total long-­term renewable water resources and 78 BCM go to surface runoff (UN 2022). It is also reported that 45 BCM per annum is groundwater recharge, of which 26 and 74% are attributed to Qanat and wells, respectively. The available per capita water has continuously decreased since 1956 from 7000 m3 to 1500 m3 in 2022. The groundwater holds only 33.5 BCM annually, supplying two-thirds of the irrigated demands and over 43% of the agricultural demand (Zekri 2020). Although the infiltration volume is 58 BCM, the groundwater abstraction is 63.8 BCM, accounting for 5.6 BCM overexploitation of the national groundwater resources. Almost 650 thousand legal and illegal wells exist in Iran, accelerating water exploitation from the central basins of Iran, where fewer surface water resources are available (Moridi 2017). In terms of wastewater reuse, Iran has over 90% coverage of sewer network collection in the urban sector, most of which flows to the centralized wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) (Zekri 2020). However, almost two-thirds of industrial wastewater does not meet any treatment and flows to the surface water resources, polluting them and limiting access to clean resources. The municipalities have been recently reusing treated wastewater for urban demands, while the practice is not common and continuous throughout Iran. On the other hand, Iran has been developing fossil fuel–driven desalination plants since 1960, and 73 desalination sites are currently in operation, mainly in the southern strip of Iran, supplying only 420,000 m3 freshwater (Ghazaie et al. 2019). Therefore, the portion of desalination in the Iranian water supply is low, and the government plans to build 50 more sites to provide water for 17 provinces and 45 million people. At the same time, there is no information on the plan’s cost, energy supply, environmental impacts, and funding resources (Zekri 2020).

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6.2.2 Semi-structured Interviews and Transcription This study used a widely employed semi-structured interview method to conduct interviews with relevant water stakeholders in Iran. The method allows interviewees to comment on a subject they conceive pertinent to the water scarcity study. The semi-structured interview is an open-ended method that enables interviewees to ask the interviewer to elaborate questions and make examples (Voegeli and Finger 2021; Gholipour et al. 2023a). Five groups of stakeholders were initially established to consider a wide range of stakeholders, including public, private, academics, environmental NGOs, and local communities. Then, we used a snowball method to identify proceeding interviewees in which the interviewees introduced the next person (Gholipour et al. 2023a). Each stakeholder was numbered with a code, and the list of interviewees can be found in Table 6.1. Interviewers presented a general introduction about the study’scope and objectives at the beginning of each interview and continued based on a questionnaire. Various questions and contents relevant to water scarcity were asked during the interviews; however, the semi-structured interviews were based on the following questions: 1 . What are the possible applications of NbS in Iran? 2. What are the NbS benefits? 3. Who are the NbS’ main actors/stakeholders for water management in Iran? 4. Is there any NbS-supportive legislation in Iran that you know of? 5. Do you have any proposals to support NbS in Iran? 6. What are the NbS barriers in Iran? 7. What are the NbS enablers in Iran? The corresponding questionnaire can be found in the supplementary materials. Each interview took between 30 and 60 minutes on average. In total, 16 in-person or online interviews were conducted with different water and NbS stakeholders in Iran. The interviews proceeded in the local language (Persian) to include as many stakeholders as possible. All interviews were recorded for further transcription and coding. Afterward, the audio was transcribed and converted to text.

Table 6.1  Interviewees’ information Stakeholder group Public Private Academics Environmental NGOs Local communities

Interview code number 2 2 5 4 3

Online/presential Online Online In-person In-person Online and in-person

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6.2.3 Variables’ Identification and Coding Three steps on each audio were conducted to enhance the precision of interviews. First, each audio was played and transcribed through a transcription tool (Live Transcribe). Second, the interviews’ texts were divided into thematical sections according to the questionnaire content. And third, the audio was replayed and simultaneously checked with the automatically transcribed texts (text proofreading), which contributed to liaising between the texts and the audio (Gholipour et al. 2023a). To respond to the questions of the study, interviewees’ sections were then analyzed, and codes with meaningful content were extracted through Vivo coding from excerpts. In the Vivo coding, the name of each code is selected based on the words extracted from each excerpt; therefore, each code is tagged accordingly to be less prone to bias. To create themes out of identified codes, we used a hybrid method, including deductive and inductive, in which the former is based on a predefined set of codes (here is our questionnaire), and the latter is the themes were identified and gathered through Vivo coding, and theme creation. Therefore, using the semi-­structured list of questions, the themes were structured to eliminate cognitive biases, while the transcribed text would open new relevant content to the study (Voegeli and Finger 2021). Eventually, the seven themes in this study are NbS applications, NbS benefits, NbS and water stakeholders, NbS laws, NbS accelerators (proposals), NbS barriers, and NbS enablers.

6.3 Results In this study, the drivers of water scarcity in Iran are initially identified through interviews, and then the application of NbS is discussed. Moreover, the advantages and co-benefits of NbS implementation are then defined to encourage individuals to think more about eco-based solutions. Another fundamental key to NbS’ successful practices is the role of stakeholders connected to the current laws and the alteration in regulations and policies. Most importantly, obstructing and facilitating factors are listed as NbS barriers and enablers in Iran. The last section represents viable recommendations for Iran’s decision-making system.

6.3.1 Water Scarcity Drivers in Iran The interviewees were asked to comment on the reasons for water scarcity in Iran. In total, 45 drivers were identified for water scarcity, of which different stakeholders pointed out various drivers. Figure 6.1 provides the water scarcity drivers and the frequency of each factor (repetition of a single driver among stakeholders).

Water scarcity drivers (frequency)

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16 14 12 10 8 6 4

Lack of culture-making plans

Lack of rainwater storage

Disturbing ecosystem balance

Hydroelectric energy production

Lack of conducting land use plan

Economic recession

Lack of international collaboration

Academic and industry disconnection

Investment reduction

Centralized development

Lack of efficient educational plan

Lack of water recycling and reuse

Population growth

High evaporation rate

Rural to urban migration

Inflation

Surface water contamination

International sanctions

Political decision-makers

Frequent flood

Lack of research and development

Dispute in international water resources

Lack of funding

Lack of agricultural plan

Virtual water export

High water demand in industries

Traditional agriculture

Disregard water scarcity

Water leakage in water distribution networks

Lack of knowledge in water resource management

Lack of technological development

Current Iranian water-related regulations

Old method and machinery in agricultural and industrial sectors

Uneven urban development

Overuse and wastage of water

Low water tariff

Undervaluing water

Mismanagement of water resources

Drought

Climate change

High water consumption in agricultural sector

Water transmission

Dam over-construction

Precipitation reduction

0

Illegal underground water utilization

2

Fig. 6.1  Water scarcity drivers

Although individuals perceived various drivers for water scarcity, seven reasons were considered as the most frequented factors (that have a frequency (Fr) more than 10) (Fig. 6.1). Precipitation reduction (Fr = 14), water transmission (Fr = 12), illegal underground water utilization (Fr  =  12), dam overconstruction (Fr  =  12), drought (Fr  =  11), high water consumption in agriculture (Fr  =  10), and climate change (Fr =10) are among the most critical drivers. The stakeholders considered other reasons for water scarcity in Iran (Fr ≥ 5), including low water tariff, undervaluing water, mismanagement of water resources, uneven urban planning, overuse and wastage of water, lack of technological development, current Iranian water-­ related regulations, old methods and machinery in agriculture and industries, lack of knowledge in water resource management, traditional agriculture, disregard for water scarcity, water leakage in water distribution networks, and virtual water export.

6.3.2 NbS Applications in Iran According to interviewees’ perceptions, nature-based solutions can have various applications in Iran. The results showed that 44 applications of NbS can be perceived, which can be classified into water, energy, food, air, greenery, groundwater, and other aspects (seven classifications). The frequency and applications of NbS are represented in Table 6.2.

3

Graywater treatment and reuse Monsoon rain management in Southeast Iran Reducing wastewater

1

1

9

Watershed management

6

1

Biomass production

Direct use of biofertilizers in agriculture

Livestock management and production Apiculture (beekeeping) 3

1

2

3

Mitigation of urban heat islands

Implementing multipurpose agricultural and industrial complexes Aquaculture

1

Air pollution mitigation

Dust management

9

Fr Air 13 CO2 sequestration

Resource recovery 1 from sewage sludge

Composting

Fr Food 3 Food production

Energy saving

Fr Energy 2 Energy production

7 Water pollution mitigation (lake, river, stormwater, groundwater) 8 Wastewater treatment and reuse Water desalination 2

Water Stormwater management

Table 6.2  Potential NbS applications

Street trees

2

Living shorelines

Green roofs

8

1

1

3

8

4

3

6

Fr 1

(continued)

Reducing solid waste (municipal, agricultural, hazardous, etc.)

Advanced waste management and source separation Implementation of circular economy

Fr Greenery Fr Groundwater Fr Others 1 Green 7 Injecting treated 2 Risk management infrastructure wastewater into an underground 6 Bioswales 1 Injecting flood 4 Biodiversity into underground preservation

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Rainwater harvesting Rain gardens

1

5

Water Fr Energy 2 Covering water channels to reduce evaporation

Table 6.2 (continued)

Fr Food Implementing greenhouse city in arid and warm climate regions in Iran Improving cropping pattern Valorization of crops Increasing cropping yield while reducing water reuse Gardening improvement 2

9

2

14

Fr Air 1

Fr Greenery

Fr Groundwater

Fr Others

Fr

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Although a wide range of applications was introduced for the Iran case study, the water and food sectors appeared to be the most important domain. The highest frequency in food classification is improving cropping patterns by Fr = 14, and the result indicates that food production is another required field for NbS by Fr = 13. In the water classification, watershed management (Fr = 9) and wastewater treatment and reuse (Fr  =  8) are perceived as potential sectors for the applications of NbS. In the air classification, dust management (Fr = 8) has the highest frequency, while green infrastructure (Fr  =  7) is fundamental in the greenery classification. NbS can also reduce solid waste (Fr = 8) and preserve biodiversity (Fr = 6).

6.3.3 NbS Benefits Stakeholders perceived various NbS benefits (Table 6.3), and 24 elements were identified in which low energy consumption has the highest frequency (Fr = 13). Alleviation of climate change (Fr  =  12) and contribution to food provision (Fr = 11) are the other advantages of NbS. In terms of water benefits, improvement in water resources management (Fr = 5) was considered a potential direct benefit of NbS, which can be considered for the current water crisis in Iran.

Table 6.3  Potential NbS benefits in Iran NbS benefit Alleviation of climate change impact Sustainability

Fr 12

NbS benefit Low energy consumption Contribution to food provision Improve physical health Ecosystem preservation

Fr 13

Job creation

5

Biodiversity

4

Well-being

2

Ecosystem services

3

Improve mental health

2

Recreational and 2 aesthetic development

Soil preservation and protection

2

Maintaining the ecological balance Reduction in agricultural waste

9

11 6 4

1 1

NbS benefit Increasing performance in agriculture Carbon footprint reduction Improvement in water resource management Resilience and adaptation to environmental changes Development of green infrastructure Ecosystem maintenance and natural resource management Preventing the increase in climate damages Job security

Fr 9 8 5 3

2 2

1 1

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6.3.4 NbS Stakeholders According to Fig. 6.2, the interviewees believe that 17 stakeholders in Iran are relevant to NbS. The Ministry of Agriculture, government, and local water and wastewater organizations are the stakeholders with higher frequency in the interviews (Fr = 15). In total, six ministries were perceived as pertinent to NbS, among which ministries of science (Fr = 14), agriculture (Fr = 15), and energy (Fr = 12) were frequently repeated in the interviews. Environmental protection organizations, farmers, property holders, private sector, and academics were also considered other relevant and frequented stakeholders.

6.3.5 NbS Supportive Laws Although interviewees were asked to mention the supportive laws for NbS in Iran, most interviewees only perceived a few activities implying indirect contributions to NbS promotion. An illustration of that was the regulation for innovative companies and start-ups in which the stakeholders contemplated companies-based research and development foundation (Fr = 3) could influence NbS applications in Iran. Regarding the water sector, the law for equal water distribution (Fr = 1) was another factor giving rise to NbS. In addition, it is stated that there has been recently a regulation for greenery in the housing and construction market, which supports the implementation of biophilic designs and particularly the use of green roofs. Green and vertical gardens Ministry of education and training 16 Private sectors Ministry of energy Municipalities NBS companies in forestry Nature-oriented tourism companies

14

Ministry of industry

12 10 8

Ministry of science

6 4 2

Ministry of economy

0

Government

Ministry of agriculture

Academics Media Local water and wastewater organization

Farmers Environmental protection organization Property holders

Fig. 6.2  Perceived NbS main stakeholders in Iran by interviewees

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Rising awareness Utilization of international experiences workshops for stakeholders and decision makers Advertisment in urban environment

Incentives 10

105

Tax waive for NBS

9

Low interest rate for NBS loans

8 NBS definition in the principle policies

7 6 5

Encouragement in investment for NBS

4 3 Utilization of social media

Supports for NBS manufacturers

2 1

Designing NBS programs for kids

0

Promotion of NBS in educational system

Encourage publics to participate in NBS activities

Increase media influence and content for NBS Promotion for NBS consulting companies

Investment in NBS educational activities

Job creation in NBS field

Protective laws for NBS activists Defining national objectives and horizon Revising grey infrastructure laws

Market creation for NBS Setting some obligations in laws

Fig. 6.3 Interviewees’ recommendations for promoting NbS

can contribute directly to the protection of biodiversity, the treatment of graywater, and the mitigation of urban heat islands, among others (Fig. 6.3).

6.3.6

NbS Barriers and Enablers

To implement NbS in Iran, interviewees were asked to comment on the possible barriers and enablers of NbS to mitigate water shortage. Figures 6.4 and 6.5 represent the barriers and enablers of NbS. In total, we have identified 16 obstacles to NbS in Iran. Figure 6.4 shows that the lack of interest (Fr = 12) and NbS knowledge (Fr = 10) are the most effective barriers to promoting NbS in Iran. In addition, other factors, including the lack of NbS examples (Fr = 9) and the current laws and regulations (Fr = 8), are among the most noticeable obstructing issues. There are also 12 more barriers to NbS with less importance, e.g., international economic sanctions, people’s mindset, acquaintance with traditional farming, lack of investment, NbS trustworthiness, and religious norms. Despite many barriers, 14 NbS enablers were determined in this study. Interviewees believe that materials are accessible in Iran’s market to construct NbS (Fr = 13), while the semiarid climate of Iran is perceived as another important catalyst for NbS promotion (Fr = 11). In Iran, other factors, including low energy cost (Fr = 9) and low workforce cost (Fr = 8), were found as NbS enablers. During our discussions with stakeholders, we realized that academic society welcomes innovations more particularly. The natural capacity, biodiversity, and availability of space were mentioned as other NbS enablers in Iran.

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Long bureaucracy

10

Mal-NBS operation

Lack NBS policy in the Iranian government

8 6

Lifestyle change

Lack of real case exmaples and pilot studies

4 2

Lack of cooperation between agriculture and industry

Current laws and regulations

0

Sanction, environment is not a priority, legislation

Failure to pay attention to biophilic or biological planning Religion norms do not allow the use of treated water

People's mindset

People do not trust NBS Lack of investment

Farmers get used to tranditional methods and are unwilling to opt for new…

Fig. 6.4 NbS barriers NBS materials are available in the Iranian market and produced in Iran. The program to co-exist with water 14 Low cost for NBS implemetation shortage 12 10 Current programs to revive and balance The semiarid climate is a suitable underground water resources condition for most NBS units 8 6 Attentions are drawn to water crisis in 4 Low energy cost cities, nowadays 2 0 Environmental campaigns to perserve biodiversity and natural habitat

Low cost of manpower

Arid and semi-arid climate of the central plateau of Iran

Academic society are welcome to the innovations

Topography of Iran

Natural capacity and biodiversity of Iran

Land and space availability

Fig. 6.5 NbS enablers

6.4

Discussion and Recommendations to Manage Iran’s Water Scarcity

Iran’s current water shortage status can be defined as a water bankruptcy (Olen 2021). But employing NbS may provide a new paradigm for dealing with water shortage. The Iranian government should initially consider the water scarcity drivers and analyze them to act permissible actions. Although the interviewees in this study mentioned many drivers, some of the drivers require international agreements and collaboration, while many drivers can be regarded under national authorities. Among the water scarcity drivers, reduction in precipitation and climate change is the issue relevant to environmental justice and world industrialization (Van Horne

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et al. 2023) that are out of control. The current practices like underground water utilization, dam overconstruction, and high-water consumption in agriculture can be nationally addressed by rethinking water resources management and authorizing water governance and distribution. Although NbS is relatively unknown in Iranian system thinking, 24 elements of NbS benefits were found in our study. In the current world of energy and food shortages, NbS could play an essential role in reducing energy consumption and increasing crop yields contributing to food provision. One of the most challenging issues involving climate change’s impact on the production system is encompassing sustainable techniques (Wynberg et al. 2023). Another advantage of using NbS is in the energy sector, of which energy saving as a fundamental benefit has been evident in previous studies (Atanasova et  al. 2021). The role of NbS in the circularity and water-energy-food nexus (WEF) cannot be underestimated in which NbS would mitigate urban circularity challenges (UCCs) and can contribute to WEF (Carvalho et al. 2022). In Iran, NbS would reduce water consumption in an urban environment, reduce energy utilization and urban heat islands (UHIs), and provide, for instance, nutrient sources (Oral et al. 2020). To make effective decisions, act, and authorize actions and plans, Iranian stakeholders, like ministries, parliament, government, and water and wastewater organizations, are at the forefront of combating water shortage. NbS would gain fame in society if bureaucracy is shortened, which can be regulated by main stakeholders. In addition, subsidies and incentives should be considered as the basis (Gholipour et al. 2023a). NbS should also be promoted in the educational system, and examples of NbS can be integrated into harmonized content to refer to it. In contrast, in the current Iranian system, NbS projects are scattered and are not seen as a united paradigm. Authorities in Iran should also observe the NbS barriers, like the lack of interest and NbS knowledge. These may be addressed by providing motives to the practitioners and international collaboration to import NbS knowledge into the academia first and then to the industries. Meanwhile, Iran’s climate condition and natural capacity in the environment and resources would allow the stakeholders to take NbS as a viable option when it comes to water resource management.

6.5 Conclusion Water scarcity is a long-term problem in the Middle East and North Africa, and it has emerged in the Mediterranean region in recent years. Not only does it impact food provision and industries, but also energy supply in hydro-power plants has faced troubles due to less precipitation and increment in water consumption in cities. Moreover, national, and international conflicts over water resources have occurred throughout the past decades. Nature-based solutions (NbS) can be an impactful solution to water scarcity. However, the opportunities and obstacles are poorly studied for developing countries like Iran. This study employed semi-­ structured interviews to collect stakeholders’ viewpoints on water scarcity and

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NbS. We obtained the perspectives of different stakeholders to identify the drivers of water scarcity in general and to propose sustainable water management solutions. Stakeholders perceived that NbS is appropriate for tackling climate change and improving social quality indicators, particularly in mitigating water shortage. Through conducting 16 semi-structured interviews with stakeholders, we found 45 drivers for the water crisis in Iran. Some drivers are under the control of the governance, like the water transmission line, and others, like the reduction in precipitation, are out of control. We found 44 applications of NbS in water, energy, food, air, greenery, groundwater, and other sectors, which would contribute to water shortage mitigation. The benefits of NbS were also identified as low energy consumption, climate change mitigation, and food provision, among the most crucial elements. Stakeholders also mentioned supportive actions that can promote NbS in Iran, like promoting NbS knowledge in the educational system, tax waiving, and incentivization. Lack of NbS knowledge and interests in the society were identified as barriers to NBS, whereas 14 NbS enablers in Iran were mentioned, including Iran’s climate condition, low energy consumption for NbS projects, and low cost in the workforce compared to other conventional and gray techniques. In this study, we tried to map the water scarcity issue and potential NbS based on stakeholders’ perspectives which can be helpful for policymakers to see the bigger picture, potential capacity to employ NbS, and pick practical solutions. Although we focused only on Iran’s water management system in this study, this semi-structured interview approach and thematic analysis can be extended to other developing countries in semiarid areas. In addition, how NbS can address water-related challenges in Iran and to what extent eco-based solutions alleviate the impacts of water shortage are uncertain. Acknowledgments  We would kindly appreciate all the participants in the interviews who provided us with useful and invaluable information. We also acknowledge Dr. Saeed Dehestani for his contribution to this study.

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Chapter 7

Achieving Sustainable Development Goals Through NGO-Led Women and Young Girls’ Empowerment Programs and Activities in Rural Communities: A Pilot Study from the Niger Republic Moussa Soulé, Ebru Nergiz, and Hamidou Taffa Abdoul-Azize Abstract For a long decade, the Niger Republic has witnessed the presence of many nongovernment organizations (NGOs). Recently, the number of NGOs has increased in the country, especially those targeting rural communities. These NGOs implement several activities and programs in various areas to support rural populations. Accordingly, they might play a key role in supporting the country to achieve significant sustainable development goals within the United Nations Agenda. This study uses secondary data such as NGO activities in reports and websites, gray literature from opened official reports, and scholarly published articles to investigate women-based NGO activities, programs, and interconnected SDGs in the Niger Republic. The findings of the study showed that most NGO activities and programs have several socioeconomic and ecological implications on women and young girls and are interconnected to many sustainable development goals of the United Nations. For instance, most NGO interventions aim at alleviating poverty (SDG1), ending hunger (SDG2), and improving women’s good health and well-being (SDG3), as well as other SDGs such as SDG4, SDG7, SDG8, SDG10, SDG13, and SDG16). As the population of Niger Republic experiences, numerous challenges such as climate-induced shocks, conflicts, poverty, and illiteracy; country policymakers and designers; and NGO partners and fund providers should design a

M. Soulé (*) Faculty of Sciences and Techniques, University Dan Dicko Dankoulodo of Maradi, Maradi, Maradi Region, Niger e-mail: [email protected] E. Nergiz Business Administration Department, Business and Management Sciences Faculty, Istanbul Esenyurt University, İstanbul, Turkey H. T. Abdoul-Azize Cabinet MADASAL CONSULTING, Niamey, Niger © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 A. Stefanakis et al. (eds.), Nature-based Solutions for Circular Management of Urban Water, Circular Economy and Sustainability, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-50725-0_7

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comprehensive regulation of NGO activities, and programs by, for instance, prioritizing the NGO interventions based on the level of the exposure of the population to the abovementioned challenges. This would not only empower women and young girls residing in rural communities but also contribute to the overall society’s resilience and well-being as well as support the efforts of the country to achieve significant SDGs by 2030. Keywords  NGOs · women empowerment · sustainable development goals · Niger Republic · policymakers

7.1 Introduction Numerous NGOs intervene in Africa where they carry out a variety of activities and programs to support the poor and vulnerable groups. This target is to enhance the resilience of these groups to several challenges and shocks, especially in rural areas (Tahiru 2019; Foo 2018). Some NGOs raise the awareness of the populations about climate change (Brass 2012; Bawakyillenuo et  al. 2015), while others train rural farmers and breeders on climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies (Jones et al. 2016; Oppenheimer 1990) and enhance research and partnerships with politics in a specific area such as climate finance for better response to climate change (Newell et al. 2015; Yaro et al. 2015; Béné et al. 2016). Accordingly, NGOs conduct numerous activities and programs that have multiple socioeconomic and environmental dimensions such as raising population awareness, mapping people’s vulnerability and risk, and building community capacity and resilience toward shocks (Darzi-Naftchali and Shahnazari 2014; De Pascale et  al. 2016). In this context, (Bulkeley and Newell 2010; Dalton et al. 2014) mention that NGOs play a key role in advocating environmental concerns, whereas (Foo 2018; Jones et  al. 2016; Bulkeley and Newell 2010; Dalton et al. 2014) highlight that NGOs contribute to alleviating poverty and social inequity through sustainable development commitment. Further, (Lazzarotto et al. 2010; Verpoorten et al. 2013) indicate that the interventions of NGOs are conducted both at local and global levels while (Newell et al. 2015; Amundsen et  al. 2018) underscore that most NGO interventions are community-­based capacity building. In fact, the Niger Republic is one of the West African Sahel countries that witness increasing implementation of NGOs as the country is ranked the poorest one on the globe. According to the National Institute of Statistics of Niger Republic, the fertility of the country is about 7.6 children by a woman and 50.30% of the country’s population lives in extreme poverty (Institut National de la Statistique (INS) 2020). Also, women’s employment rate accounts for 29.03%, while only 22.8% of women are employees in the public sector and 18.7% of them work in the private sector (Institut National de la Statistique (INS) 2008), and the country’s women’s

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literacy is about 15%. Moreover, it is estimated that more than 38% of women experienced gender-based violence in 2021. Women are key actors in significant economic sectors such as agriculture. About 48.70% of women in the Niger Republic are engaged in agricultural activities (Ministère de l’Agriculture et de l’Elevage du Niger 2021), which may contribute significantly to the country’s socioeconomic development. Hence, (Tidjani Alou et al. 2015) declared that women represent a significant part of agricultural labor in the Niger Republic and have a key role in the development of the country’s food production system. However, women face numerous challenges such as adverse impacts of climate, ongoing conflicts, and low education. These challenges might negatively affect the female farmers’ agriculture activities and livelihood and therefore worsen women’s living conditions, especially those living in rural communities. In this view, (GIZ 2021; CDN 2021) indicate that recurrent climate-induced shocks such as droughts, floods, strong winds, extreme heat, and climate-related diseases are some of the indicators of the vulnerability of the Niger Republic. On the other hand, the current insecurity and insecurity-led displacements of the population in some regions of the country would negatively affect the socioeconomic and ecological conditions of the country and therefore pose serious threats to some specific vulnerable groups such as women and young girls in rural communities. Nevertheless, the existence of many NGOs in the country could significantly support the efforts of the government to overcome numerous challenges such as extreme poverty, high illiteracy rate, social conflicts, and climate-induced shocks. For instance, NGO DIKO intervenes in approximately 67 communes where they implement various activities such as women training in tree nurseries and women farmers’ training on livelihood activities, promoting income-generating activities (cash transfer, and in-kind assistance) and training on degraded land management techniques as shown in the following photos (Photos 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, and 7.4). Although NGOs might play a significant role in supporting the efforts of the government in the Niger Republic, most studies conducted in the Niger Republic on NGOs investigate the roles of NGOs in sustaining rural livelihoods (Tahiru 2019; Premchander 2003; Zaidi et al. 2009; Jenderedjian and Bellows 2021; Forkuor and Korah 2022; Mininni 2022) and NGOs’ contribution to gender poverty alleviation (Premchander 2003). Other scholars have studied the universal education agenda by exploring the partnership between World Bank, NGOs, and civil society, NGOs’ contribution to women’s health (Zaidi et al. 2009), NGOs’ healthcare practices and gender use of modern contraceptives (Brooks et al. 2019), and NGOs and gender-­ based violence in West Africa selected countries (Senegal, Mali, Burkina Faso, and Niger) (Ndiaye 2021). From the above literature, it is obvious that there is a scarcity of studies that investigate the connections between NGO activities and programs with the sustainable development goals (SDGs) with a focus on women in rural communities. However, conducting such a kind of study could point out the significant contribution of NGOs in supporting the public authorities and reshaping the NGO regulation schemes to achieve the SDGs of the United Nations by the 2030 Agenda. Hence, the main purpose of this study is to investigate the NGO activities and

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Photo 7.1  Training women on smart agriculture practices

programs with a focus on women and girls in the Niger Republic’s rural communities and the interconnected SDGs of the United Nations. By doing so, the findings of the study could help the country policy designers and makers not only apprehend the contributions of NGOs to the country’s development but also might serve as guidelines for them to design a comprehension regulation and define the role of NGOs in the Niger Republic’s development policy and strategies. More especially, the study seeks to answer the following questions: 1. What are the NGO activities and programs targeting women and young girls in the rural communities of the Niger Republic? 2. What are the socioeconomic and ecological implications of these NGO activities and programs for the beneficiaries? 3. Which SDGs are interconnected to these women and young girls–based NGO activities and programs?

7.2 Methodology This study used secondary data such as scholarly published articles, NGO websites, and gray literature from opened NGO official reports. Fourteen NGO programs and activities focused on women, and young girls in rural communities of the Niger Republic were considered. The inclusion and exclusion criteria of these NGOs are

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Photo 7.2  Training rural population on off-season cropping natural regeneration in the Region of Maradi. (Source: NGO Diko)

Photo 7.3  Training women on market gardening practices

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Photo 7.4  Distribution of small animal distribution to women (village nurseries Region of Tillabery by NGO Karkara (Niger Republic) in the pastoral communities of Maradi by NGO Agir (Niger Republic) Table 7.1  Study inclusion and exclusion criteria Inclusion criteria NGOs

NGO women and young girls–based programs and activities in rural communities of the Niger Republic

All NGOs operating currently in the rural communities of the Niger Republic All NGO women and young girls–based programs and activities in the rural communities of the Niger Republic

Exclusion criteria All NGOs not operating in the rural communities of the Niger Republic All NGO women and young girls–based programs and activities not relevant to rural communities of the Niger Republic

Source: The authors

summarized in Table 7.1. The findings of the study consisting of a summary of the NGO programs and activities, their socioeconomic and economic implications, as well as the interconnected SDGs are pointed out (Table 7.2).

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7.3 Results (Table 7.2) Table 7.2  A summary of NGO women-based interventions in rural communities of the Niger Republic

NGOs Mercy corps Niger

Care International

Intervention areas Healthcare, education, nutrition

Energy, health

Socioeconomic and ecological/ environmental Types of programs implications and activities Women and young Providing girls’ good health psychosocial and well-being, support to women women and young and young girls, girls’ skill and girls training on capacity building, hygiene and reduction in nutrition, women women and young and young girls girls’ vocational training unemployment and on apprenticeship poverty rates opportunities, savings, credit, and improving rural households’ basic financial livelihood and services, in-kind assistance (liquefied resilience to shocks gas, small-scale solar power) for young girls and women) Delivery of in-kind Reduction of women’s poverty assistance (distribution of solar through income-­ kits, sets of generating equipment for activities, mobile devices improving charging), provision women’s and of sexual, young girl health reproductive, and and well-being maternal health (SRMH) services for women and young girls

Interconnected SDGs* SDG3 (Good health and well-being); SDG1 (No poverty); SDG10 (reduced inequality); SDG7 (affordable and clean energy)

SDG3 (good health and well-being); SDG1 (no poverty)

(continued)

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120 Table 7.2 (continued)

NGOs NGO DIKO

COOPI (Cooperazione Internazionale and Italian Agency of Cooperation and Development)

Socioeconomic and ecological/ environmental Intervention Types of programs implications areas and activities Delivery of in-kind Reduction of the Poverty risk of the assistance (food alleviation, households to be assistance, sheep capacity exposed to hunger, distribution) for building internally displaced famine, and food (gender empowerment, and refugee women, insecurity, promotion of distribution of citizenship women’s hulling mill to culture, and entrepreneurship development), women), training emergency and women on capacity through cattle fattening, building, woman humanitarian reduction of rights, and activities women’s responsibilities, training women on household labor, improving smart agriculture practices (managed women’s rights, natural regeneration and reducing women-based (RNA) violence, women’s skill and building capacity on climate change adaption strategies and land management techniques Training women and Building women’s Capacity and entrepreneurship skill building, young girls on cosmetics ointment skills and education and soap production, capacities through the promotion of organizing income-generating educational and activities, reducing recreational women’s poverty activities for and improving children and illiterate adolescent adolescent girls and women’s girls and women cognitive development and well-being

Interconnected SDGs* SDG1 (no poverty), SDG2 (zero hunger); SDG3 (good health and well-being); SDG8 (decent work and economic growth); SDG13 (climate action); SDG10 (reduced inequality); SDG13 (climate action)

SDG1 (no poverty); SDG3 (good health and well-­ being); SDG4 (quality education)

(continued)

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Table 7.2 (continued)

NGOs NGO ADLI

NGO KARKARA

Intervention areas Poverty reduction, promoting climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies (smart agriculture practices)

Types of programs and activities Promoting income-generating activities for women, training women on smart agroforestry techniques, and promoting climate actions (solar energy use, tree plantation, land restoration, irrigated agriculture, construction of water and pastoral water points, and pastoral enclaves. Building wells, Education, women education, health, agriculture and training women on smart agriculture food security, environmental techniques (compost, cropping, conservation, and plants poverty harvesting reduction, climate actions, techniques), water resource supporting women micro projects management (dairy projects), training women on tree sapling production, delivery of in-kind assistance (food, drugs, and mosquito distributions in rural areas exposed to social conflicts and inundations).

Socioeconomic and ecological/ environmental implications Reduction of poverty, building women’s skill in climate change action, improvement of women’s climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies knowledge, and improvement of rural women livelihood diversification strategies Reduction of women’s labor, building women’s skill and capacity in climate change mitigation and adaptation strategies, building women’s skill and capacity in entrepreneurship, reduction of the exposure of rural households to food insecurity and famine, enhancement of women and children’s health, reduction of neonatal mortality rate, and improvement of women peace-­ building skills

Interconnected SDGs* SDG1 (no poverty); SDG10 (reduced inequality); SDG13 (climate action); SDG7 (affordable and clean energy); SDG15 (life on land)

SD1 (no poverty); SDG2 (no hunger); SDG3 (good health and well-being); SDG5 (Gender equality); SDG6 (clean water and sanitation); SDG13 (climate action); SDG10 (reduced inequality)

(continued)

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122 Table 7.2 (continued)

NGOs NGO Agir plus

Intervention areas Skill building

Types of programs and activities Training young girls in agro-food processing and knitting (liquid and solid soap production)

SAMARITAN’S Health PURSE

Construction of health centers for rural communities, maternity care for women, and childcare support for undernourished children

ONG LIBO

Providing scholarship to young girls, raising women and young girls’ awareness about sexually transmitted infections (STIs) such as HIV/AIDS, training women on modern agricultural production techniques

Education, health, agriculture, economic growth

Socioeconomic and ecological/ environmental implications Improvement of women’s entrepreneurship skills, reduction of women’s unemployment rate, reduction of poverty, and enhancement of women’s well-being. Improvement of women’s and children’s health, reduction of children’s malnutrition and death rates, and improvement of rural community well-being Improvement of young girls’ schooling rate and school attendance, reduction of young girls’ illiteracy, reduction of the spreading of sexually transmitted infection, such as HIV/AIDS, enhancement of women’s entrepreneurship skills, and improvement of women’s knowledge on modern agricultural production techniques

Interconnected SDGs* SDG1 (no poverty); SDG3 (good health and well-­ being); SDG8 (decent work and economic growth); SDG10 (reduced inequality) SDG2 (no hunger); SDG3 (good health and well-being)

SDG3 (good health and well-being); SDG4 (quality education); SDG8 (decent work and economic growth), SDG1 (no poverty); (SDG10 (reduced inequality); SDG13 (climate action)

(continued)

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Table 7.2 (continued)

NGOs NGO Garkua

Intervention areas Agriculture, health and nutrition, education, environment

Socioeconomic and ecological/ environmental Types of programs implications and activities Enhancement of Promoting women women’s farmers’ organizational organizations, training women on creating capacity, improvement of smart agriculture women’s farming practices (family techniques, farming systems, reduction of small-scale irrigation, land and women’s poverty, enhancement of environment women’s resilience management techniques, and land to climate change, reduction of infant restoration malnutrition and techniques), stunning, reduction promoting of young girls income-generating activities (cash and illiteracy, raise of women awareness food for work), training women on to ecosystem services and planting multipurpose woody biodiversity conservation, and species such as enhancement of Faidherbia albida, Senegalia Senegal, women capacity in carbon and Balanites aegyptiaca, training sequestration women on environmental education, delivery of in-kind (Plumpy’Nut) for children, distribution of crop seeds (cabbage, moringa, and lettuce) for the market gardening, distribution of small animals, and providing scholarship to students.

Interconnected SDGs* SDG1 (no poverty); SDG3 (good health and well-being; SDG4 (quality education); SDG10 (reduced inequality); SDG13 (climate action)

(continued)

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NGOs UN Women (ONU Femmes)

Grade Africa

Socioeconomic and ecological/ environmental Intervention Types of programs implications areas and activities Promoting women’s Reduction of Health, good governance and implication and maternal and infant participation in peace, mortality rates, politics, advocating reduction of education and promoting women and girls– women’s rights based violence, (designing and enhancement of acting laws with women’s civil society actors engagement and and government participation in the bodies to protect and political sphere, empower women reduction of and girls to reduce women’s illiteracy, women and girls– reduction of girls’ based violence, child early training and marriage, and coaching women to enhancement of political leadership women and business, and entrepreneurship providing women skills with income-­ generating assets. Reduction of Providing Health, women and young education, and reproductive and girls–based sexual health situation of violence, services, women and prevention of early implementing household and child marriage, family planning resilience promotion of strategies (women social cohesion, sensitization on reduction of modern poverty, reduction contraceptive methods), promoting of young girl illiteracy, and young girls’ schools’ enrollment enhancement of women’s and retention, participation in promoting women democracy and leadership locally, public affairs promoting management income-generating activities for women, and promoting women’s participation in the public management via the education of girls

Interconnected SDGs* SDG3 (good health and well-being); SDG4 (quality education); SDG8 (decent work and economic growth), SDG16 (peace, justice and strong Institutions)

SDG1 (no poverty); SDG2 (no hunger); SDG3 (good health and well-being; SDG4 (quality education); SDG16 (peace, justice and strong Institutions)

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Table 7.2 (continued)

NGOs NGO Better Living with AIDS

Intervention areas Sexual education, Health

Socioeconomic and ecological/ environmental Types of programs implications and activities Reduction of Promoting poverty, reduction income-generating activities, screening, of spreading and donations and food transmission, contamination assistance, education/schooling rates of HIV/AIDS and their impacts of young girls, on women, advocacy and reduction of human rights, women and young prevention/ girls–based HIV/ awareness-raising, medical support and AIDS stigma, improvement of psychosocial care, legal assistance for social integration of women and women living with young girls living HIV/AIDS, rising with HIV/AIDS, women and young enhancement of girls awareness on the impacts of STI/ women well-being, reduction of young HIV/AIDS, and girls’ illiteracy, and supporting women improvement of and young girls young girls’ school affected by STI/ attendance HIV/AIDS

Interconnected SDGs* SDG1 (no poverty); SDG2 (no hunger); SDG3 (good health and well-being); SDG4 (quality education)

7.4 Discussion From Table 7.2, it can be noticed that most NGOs implemented a variety of activities and interventions in the rural communities of the Niger Republic. Most of these activities and interventions target alleviating women poverty and exposure of rural households to hunger, famine, and food insecurity, through in-kind assistance (food distribution and promotion of cattle fattening) and training women on entrepreneurship and apprenticeship practices and opportunities, savings, credit, and basic financial. Providing rural women with income-generating assets (Table 7.2) could help them overcome both temporary and chronic poverty as well as increase their power in household decision-making. For instance, (Cornwall 2016) highlights that distributing small animals to women and training them on entrepreneurship by NGOs enhances their economic empowerment. Similarly, (Taukobong et al. 2016) states that empowering women through income-generating activities improves household well-being and reduces family stress and violence, while (Ayodeji et al. 2021) notes that empowering women in agricultural practices contributes positively to household food security.

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The findings of the study showed that many NGOs train women on sexual and reproductive practices and provide maternity care for women and healthcare for children, which contribute to improving women and young girls’ health and well-­ being in rural communities. Such activities and interventions contribute, for instance, to reducing neonatal mortality rates, improving women’s and children’s health and women’s sexual and reproductive health, and therefore enhancing women and children’s well-being. In addition, they reduce the spreading of and contamination of HIV/AIDS and reduce women-based stigma built on such kinds of illnesses. This would therefore improve social integration and well-being of women and young girls living with HIV/AIDS. Similarly, (Francke and Quispe 2022) mentions that reproductive and sexual health services improve women’s well-being, whereas (Francke and Quispe 2022; Alimoradi et  al. 2017) highlight that women’s well-­ being is one of the important indicators of socioeconomic and ecological sustainability. Further, (Keith et  al. 2022) reports that psychological development interventions have the potential to promote women’s psychosocial well-being and/ or prevent or treat women’s mental disorders, and (Keith et al. 2022) stresses that this reduces women-based violence. On the other hand, Table 7.2 shows that most NGOs train women on off-season agricultural practices and irrigation systems in rural communities of the Niger Republic. This would enhance women’s resilience to food insecurity and temporary climate-induced shocks impacts of bad harvest, temporary drought, and therefore reduce household exposure to hunger and malnutrition. These findings align with those of (Holland and Rammohan 2019) who reported that the caretaker’s role of women as food producers reduces household malnutrition status and those of (Rahman and Islam 2014) who highlight that women contribute significantly to enhancing society’s food and nutritional status. On the other hand, Table 7.2 shows that many NGOs contribute to building women’s capacity and skills in climate change adaptation and mitigation strategies by training them on a variety of techniques such as land and management techniques, family farming techniques, small-scale irrigation techniques, sustainable land and environmental management, as well as environmental education. Such NGO activities, programs, and interventions could enhance women’s resilience to the adverse impacts of climate change. Likewise, (Ajani et al. 2013) declare that empowering women in climate actions is an important means to generate various socioeconomic and ecological benefits that lead to enhancing societal resilience. For instance, (Aziz et  al. 2022) emphasizes that most NGO climate actions boost the resilience of women to food insecurity and aim at reducing greenhouse gas emissions. (Sinthumule 2022) indicates that such actions contribute to biodiversity conservation. Moreover, Table 7.2 shows that other NGO activities, programs, and interventions include advocating and improving women’s rights, reducing women-based violence, improving women’s security and peacebuilding capacity, and therefore women promoting community dialogue. Such changes in behavioral activities, programs, and interventions could play a key role in societal transformation. These findings are similar to those of (Keith et al. 2022) who indicate that reduction of

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women-based violence, improving women’s rights and security, and peace-building capacity are social and economic empowerment interventions susceptible to transforming positively women’s attitudes toward violence alleviation. In addition, (Alvarez 2013) notes that training women in politics on some specific topics, women’s rights, peace, and community dialogue, is a key factor of sustainable development.

7.5 Conclusions The study investigates NGO women–based activities, programs, and interventions in the rural communities of the Niger Republic and interconnected sustainable development goals of the United Nations. The findings of the study revealed that most NGOs’ women-focused activities, programs, and interventions are linked to many SDGs of the United Nations. For example, most NGOs promote income-­ generating assets/activities for women, which are directly interconnected to ending poverty and hunger (SDG1 & SDG2). Some NGOs support young girls’ education through scholarships, which contribute to reducing women’s illiteracy and enhancing education quality (SDG5). Accordingly, NGOs are key actors in supporting the Niger Republic public authorities to achieve significant SDGs of the United Nations. Therefore, NGO actors and the Niger Republic policy designers and makers should implement comprehensive regulations of NGO activities that could guide the prior intervention areas/ regions for not only empowering women and young girls but enhancing their overall social well-being. This could support the country’s efforts to achieve significant sustainable development goals of the United Nations by 2030. Further research could explore, for instance, NGOs’ social protection programs and sustainable development goals with a focus on the country’s population.

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Chapter 8

Phytomining as a Nature-based Solution in the Cities of Albania Aida Bani, Dolja Pavlova, and Seit Shallari

Abstract Phytomining is a “green” alternative to opencast mining practices applied to recover a range of metals (Ni, Co, Au). Nickel-rich soils such as ultramafic soils and industrially polluted soils have a high potential for metal recovery and application in metallurgical processes. Plants are cultivated to extract metals from soils and transport them to aerial plant parts with subsequent harvesting. Metals are then recovered from the biomass. Albania is rich in ultramafic soils (11% of the territory) and Ni-hyperaccumulators. Phytomining field plots have been operating since 2005 in Përrenjas (serpentine and industrial dumpsite) and Elbasan (site, contaminated by industrial activities). Consequently, cropping systems have been designed. The Ni-hyperaccumulator species Odontarrhena chalcidica cultivated on ultramafic plots under organic and mineral fertilization reached a biomass production of 9.96 t/ha and Ni yields of 145 kg/ha and has the potential to become a cash crop. Also, phytomining was applied to municipal and industrial Ni-rich waste and dumpsites located in Elbasan and Përrenjas. Both places have the highest risk of pollution and toxins. We propose phytomining as NbS to improve mineralized soil and restore contaminated or degraded soils while producing biomass for industrial use and phytomining in the city environment. Keywords Phytomining · Hyperaccumulator · Serpentine soil · Serpentine quarries · Contaminated soil

A. Bani (*) · S. Shallari Department of Environment and Natural Resources, Faculty of Agronomy and Environment, Agricultural University of Tirana, Tirana, Albania e-mail: [email protected] D. Pavlova Department of Botany, Faculty of Biology, University of Sofia, Sofia, Bulgaria e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 A. Stefanakis et al. (eds.), Nature-based Solutions for Circular Management of Urban Water, Circular Economy and Sustainability, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-50725-0_8

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8.1 Introduction Cities worldwide are centers of human and economic activity and effectively function as a hub of natural resources. Urban centers consume more than 75% of natural resources and they are responsible for 50% of solid waste and emit up to 60% of overall greenhouse gas emissions thus contributing to pollution, climate change, and biodiversity loss (Ellen MacArthur Foundation 2017). Cities are facing several challenges including resource depletion, climate change, and degradation of ecosystems (Langergraber et al. 2020, 2021). Nowadays, following the concept of circular economy, there is an urgent need of more efficient resource management and waste prevention in urban areas in order to cope with these challenges. Because the current linear economic model is not sustainable and recovers very little of the original input a viable solution must be done. In this context, resource recovery using nature-based solutions (NbS) is gaining popularity worldwide. According to the European Commission (European Commission 2022), NbS are inspired and supported by nature, which are cost-effective, simultaneously provide environmental, social, and economic benefits, and help build resilience. Such solutions bring more and more diverse, nature and natural features and processes into cities, landscapes, and seascapes, through locally adapted, resource-efficient, and systemic interventions. NbS benefit biodiversity and support the delivery of a range of ecosystem services. Nature-based solutions or green infrastructure solutions are considered one element that can help to achieve this transition and can provide an array of valuable services, such as clean water production, nutrient recovery, heavy metals retention and recovery, as well as production of a broad range of plant-based materials adapted to local conditions (Langergraber et al. 2020; Stefanakis et al. 2021). Based on the existing framework (Atanasova et al. 2021), a set of more than 50 NbS units and interventions assessed in terms of their potential to address Urban Circularity Challenges are suggested and classified along with several supporting units required to create circular economy through NbS (European Commission 2022; Oral et al. 2021). Various NbS systems at different levels (micro-, meso-, and macro-scale based on Kisser et  al. (2020) are implemented in the cities for the recovery of resources such as N, P, energy, organics, and water. Van Hullebusch et al. (2021) define input and output resource streams to and from NbS units/interventions that support creating circular economy through NbS. One of the urban circularity challenges addressed by NbS implemented under a circular framework is “Material recovery and reuse”, where phytoremediation technology is included. This specific technology brings nature into cities using organisms (hyperaccumulator plants) as principal agents, provided they enable resource recovery and the restoration of ecosystem services in urban areas. Phytoremediation is applied to restore contaminated or degraded soils while producing biomass for industrial use such as energy, fiber, and phytomining. The technique phytomining or agromining (growing hyperaccumulating plants to “mine” high-value metals such as Ni, Co, rare earth elements from soil) is applied for contaminated or ultramafic

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soils. It can also be applied to municipal and industrial solid waste streams (Kisser et al. 2015) if the metals are bio-available or made bio-available through appropriate additives (Rosenkranz et al. 2017). This technique comprises a chain of processes covering the improvement of soil quality (phytoremediation) and the incineration of the biomass produced in order to obtain the metals from the ashes of the hyperaccumulator plants, which can be considered as a bio-ore and recovered for further use (van der Ent et  al. 2015). Because of their unusual ability to bioconcentrate and purify Ni from soils Ni-hyperaccumulator plants are considered ideal candidates for Ni phytomining/agromining. As described by van Hullebusch et al. (2021) inputs for phytomining/agromining include the growing substrate, plants, soil amendment for biostimulation purposes, and additional microbial strains for bioaugmentation, while outputs include improved soil, recovered metal bio-ores (metals-enriched biomass of hyperaccumulator plants) and energy from biomass combustion. In addition to metal extraction, agromining agrosystems can also be managed to provide multiple ecosystem services, such as C sequestration, enhanced soil biodiversity, renewable biomass production, improved agricultural crop productivity (safe edible and non-edible crops), and land restoration (Kidd et al. 2018). It was found that phytoremediation and green amendment-based solidification/stabilization are typically “the greenest” remediation strategies, but wise decisions should be made on the basis of case-specific sustainability assessment results (Wang et al. 2021). Phytomining is a “green” alternative to opencast mining practices applied to recover a range of metals (Ni, Co, Cd, Fe) but most often is used for Ni production. The technological chain has two stages: (1) the cultivation of hyperaccumulator plants to obtain sufficient aerial biomass with a high Ni concentration, and (2) the transformation of the biomass to obtain valuable end-products, both of importance for phytoextraction yield and financial feasibility. Recently, key studies for phytomining application on ultramafic agricultural land, ultramafic quarries, and metal-­ rich soils or substrates (technosols) based on industrial waste at sites in Greece, Albania, Spain, and Austria were provided. They demonstrated the full phytomining cycle including the recovery of Ni-rich products and bioenergy (Kidd et al. 2018; Bani et al. 2021). Albania has potential for phytomining/agromining activities because of the following: (1) a large ultramafic area (11% of the territory of the country) including agricultural areas (Lekaj et al. 2019); (2) a high density of abandoned or active mining sites as well as metal smelters, and (3) the highest diversity from Ni-hyperaccumulator plants in Europe (Cecchi et al. 2018). Since 2005 phytomining field plots operate in Pojske, Pogradec (ultramafic), Përrenjas (serpentine quarries), and Elbasan (contaminated by industrial activities) while the application of this technology in Albanian city sites started 5 years ago. This chapter focuses on: (1) the results of applied phytomining technology to recover nickel (Ni) from both ex-mining polluted sites and ultramafic sites in some cities of Albania; (2) phytomining as NbS that can be applied to any brownfields in cities in other to revitalize the valuable soil resource and enable urban agriculture and urban greening.

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8.2 Materials and Methods 8.2.1 Study Area Phytomining field plots have been operating since 2005 in Albanian cities Përrenjas (serpentine soil of field of Domosdova and Rajce and industrial dumpsite) and Elbasan (contaminated by industrial activities). One of the studied sites is located in the industrial area of the town of Elbasan (41°4′58, 54″ N, 20°1′24, 51″ E) (Fig. 8.1). Elbasan is one of the largest cities in Albania, which had the biggest metallurgical complex of the country (155 hectares) from 1970 to 1990. It is located 4 km far from the center of Elbasan city and 0.5 km from the Shkumbin River. At the same time, it is the main source of soil and groundwater contamination with heavy metals (Osmani et al. 2015, 2018). The second industrial dumpsite is a former Fe-Ni mining site located 500 m far from the city center, an ultramafic outcrop in the east of Përrenjas (41°03′58.97″ N,

Fig. 8.1  A map of Albania showing the location of the industrial and ultramafic areas: 1. Elbasan (contaminated by industrial activities, dumpsite). 2. Përrenjas (industrial and serpentine sites)

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20°32′21.34″ E) at an elevation of 650 m. Përrenjas mine extracted 500 thousand tons/year Fe-Ni mineral, where 350 thousand tons was processed in the metallurgical complex of Elbasan and 150 thousand tons was exported to Europe. The soil selected for the pot experiment was taken from the 0–30 cm layer of a Përrenjas dumpsite (PD) and Elbasan dumpsite (ED). The experiment was carried out using 2-L plastic pots with 2 kg soil. For each dumpsite, Përrenjas dumpsite (PD) and Elbasan dumpsite (ED), the soil samples were treated with Përrenjas vegetation soil (PS) and Elbasan vegetation soil (ES) and with manure (M), in different percentages: 100% PD/ED, planted with (A/T); 80% PD/ED + 20% PS/ES planted with (A/T); 50% PD/ED + 50% PS/ES planted with (A/T); 80% PD/ED + 20% M planted with (A); 50% PD/ED  +  50% M planted with (A). The experiment was conducted in greenhouse (Osmani and Bani 2017). Prior to starting the incubation, the soil was wetted and pre-incubated at greenhouse temperature for 14 days. After this period, each individual pot was planted with four seeds of Odontarrhena muralis and Trifolium repens for 5 months. The pots were watered every day. The concentration of Ni in plants and plant biomass per pot were measured to calculate the potential of nickel phytoextraction in soils of dumpsites after treatment. Two more study sites near the city of Përrenjas were studied where the soil was naturally rich in metals (ultramafic soil) and Ni-hyperaccumulator species Odontarrhena chalcidica is naturally distributed. First one was Domosdova field (41°04′08″N, 20°33′11″E), which contains soil developed from a colluvium of ultramafic and magnesite origin (Cambic Hypermagnesic Hypereutric Vertisol) and second was Fushe Rrajce (41°05 40′N, 20°34 32″E, 560 m a.s.l.) with serpentine soil where three composite soil samples per site at 0–20 cm depth were collected.

8.2.2 Determination of Nickel Concentration Samples were mineralized with a microwave digester (Ethos One Pro-24), where 0.25–0.3 g of soil or plants sample was digested by adding 8 ml HNO3 69% and 2 ml H2O2. Solutions were filtered and were adjusted to 50 ml with distilled water. Heavy metals were determined spectrochemically using an Atomic absorption spectrophotometer (Nov AA-350). The availability of Ni in dumpsite soils and all treatments were measured using a DTPA–TEA extractant (0.005 M DTPA with 0.01 M CaCl2 and 0.1 M triethanolamine (TEA) at pH 7.3). A ratio of 1 g soil:10 ml DTPA-TEA solution was shaken for 2  h, and then the suspension was centrifuged at 5000g for 20  min, filtered through a 0.2 μm pore size cellulose nitrate filter (SARTORIUS) (Xhaferri et al. 2018). All extractions were performed in triplicate. Ni concentrations in the soil extracts were determined electrochemically using an Atomic absorption spectrophotometer (Nov AA-350).

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8.3 Results and Discussion 8.3.1 Soils in Albanian City Sites and Their Role in Phytomining Waste mixed with soil that came from both dumpsites from Përrenjas and Elbasan had ultramafic origin. Analysis of the heavy metals concentrations in the dumpsites soils showed that Ni (6859 mg kg−1), Co (286 mg kg−1), and Fe (36,715 mg kg−1) are higher in Përrenjas dumpsite, because the wastes are raw, while in Elbasan dumpsite the concentrations of Cr (7185 mg kg−1) and Zn (135 mg kg−1) are higher (Osmani et al. 2018; Osmani and Bani 2017). Ni concentration is lower in Elbasan dumpsite, because it is processed by the steel plant. The value of Ni and other metals in vegetation soils, which are used for mixing, is higher in the Përrenjas soils than in those of Elbasan, because the vegetation soil of Përrenjas is serpentine soil and the vegetation soil of Elbasan is agricultural soil. The Ni concentration in manure (added to improve the soil quality) is under the limit ( flowers >entire plant (Xhaferri et al. 2018). The phytoextraction in the former mining area of Përrenjas leads to the depletion of the labile pool of Ni and to the improvement of the physical properties of the soil. Therefore, an increase in labile forms of metals and an increase in metal bioavailability favors phytomining. Plant Biomass, Ni Yield, and Ni Recovery  Except from the metal concentration in plant the success of phytomining/agromining process is in relation to plant biomass yield. Different factors such as climatic conditions, soil properties, and metal bioavailability can limit the production of plant biomass. Besides, a higher biomass can be harvested through the addition of various amendments such as inorganic fertilizers and organic amendments (compost, biochar, and animal waste) (Wang et al. 2021; Nkrumah et al. 2016). Mineral fertilization has a positive effect on the biomass production of Ni-hyperaccumulators and Ni yield due to nutrient deficiency of ultramafic soils (Kidd et al. 2018). Usually, phosphorus affects biomass and Ni uptake of hyperaccumulators including the stimulation of flowering, while application of nitrogen (N) is advisable to minimize excessive leaching of N to groundwater and to compensate soil nutrient absorption by the hyperaccumulator (Kidd et al. 2018; Wang et al. 2020). Our study for years showed that the biomass and Ni yields of O. chalcidica are high in Domosdova field and Fushe Rajce ultramafic sites, respectively: Domosdova field 8.8 t ha−1 biomass and 95.9 kg ha−1 Ni yield; Fushe Rajce: 6 t ha−1 biomass and 57 kg ha−1 Ni yield. The results are more promising in case of field experiments for a period of 5 years provided in Albania demonstrated that biomass and Ni yield are improved and reach biomass production 9.96 t ha−1 and Ni yield 145 kg ha−1 (Kidd et al. 2018; Bani et al. 2013). In the case of ex-industrial sites, the biomass production and Ni yield are lower. So that in the experimental field around ex-industrial site of Elbasan received biomass production

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was 11 t ha−1 and Ni yield 11 kg ha−1. From the biomass of O. chalcidica produced in Albanian soils ammonium nickel sulfate hexahydrate (ANSH) was obtained with 99% purity. By drying and incinerating the Ni-rich biomass and a sequence of treatments of the ashes (Houzelot et al. 2017; Sheoran et al. 2009) obtained 5–13% of Ni in the ash from incinerating Ni-hyperaccumulator plants, significantly higher than the Ni-concentrations in common (primary) ores (3%). The results for biomass and Ni concentration in the plants O. chalcidica and Trifolium repens are presented for Përrenjas and Elbasan dumpsites when they are treated differently (Osmani and Bani 2017). In both dumpsites, adding 50% manure increases the plant biomass, but at the same time it decreases the Ni concentration in plants, because the concentration of nickel is diluted. The biomass of O. chalcidica grown in Elbasan dumpsite treated with fertilizer (diammonium phosphate) and manure show different results, higher when fertilizer is used (Lekaj et al. 2019). The authors conclude that the presence of nitrogen and phosphorous in the soil positively affects O. chalcidica growth, but potassium negatively. Also, they consider fertilization does not affect the concentration of Ni in plant tissues. Additionally, agromining practice in Albania shows that nitrogen-fixing species from Fabaceae included in the cropping system lead to a reduction in the use of fertilizers (Bani et al. 2021) and successfully applied co-cropping in some ultramafic sites. Moreover, hyperaccumulator plants are strongly resistant to pests and thus help to reduce the need for pesticide application. Also, plant biomass can be higher altogether with the improvement of soil quality when soil microbial communities are stimulated (Kidd et  al. 2018; Nkrumah et al. 2016) but future studies in this relation in Albania are required. Revegetation  Along with analyses of Ni concentrations and biomass production in Përrenjas ex-mining sites revegetation process was also studied. Usually, vegetation cover minimizes erosion and decreases toxic element migration to the groundwater. Natural revegetation of a mining-affected area may take hundreds of years, while phytomining offers a relatively fast approach for the restoration of degraded lands (i.e., cutting the restoration duration to several years) (Wang et al. 2021; Koszelnik-­ Leszek et al. 2013). The studied area in Përrenjas is characterized by a relatively small number of plant species. Among the species 28.3% of the taxa are known to tolerate high levels of Ni in their growing substrate and the number of Ni-tolerant species depends on the accumulation abilities of the species (Osmani et al. 2018). Most of the plants showed slightly elevated Ni concentrations in comparison to those on other soil types, about 12–251 mg kg−1, rather than 0.5–10 mg kg−1 (Osmani et al. 2018). The analysis of metals performed on plant bulk shoots showed different plant responses to the presence of Ni, Ca, and Mg in the adjacent soils. The analysis of the taxonomical structure of the flora of the ex-mining sites in Përrenjas demonstrates that Asteraceae (29.3% of all found species) is the richest in the species family. In this family, the abundance of species characteristic for rocky heavy metal-rich areas found in other places in the world such as species from genera Centaurea, Artemisia, Sonchus, etc. prevail. The data presented by Osmani et al. (2018) show

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the percentage of the representatives of other families as follows: Lamiaceae (8.1%), Fabaceae (7.1%), Scrophulariaceae (7.1%), Boraginaceae (5.1%), Caryophyllaceae (6.1%), Brassicaceae (6.1%), Poaceae (3%), etc. These families were reported to occur on serpentine dumping grounds both in Poland and in Western Europe [40]. The highest Ni concentrations range between 150 and 250  mg  kg−1 for the local indicator species such as Cynoglossum officinale, Alyssoides sinuata, A. utriculata, Medicago lupulina, Melilotus albus, and Polygonum persicaria. The only plant with hyperaccumulation ability is Odontarrhena chalcidica, naturally distributed in the neighboring serpentine sites. The serpentine-adapted species were the most competitive which contributed to the colonization of the studied area and success of the phytoremediation in Albania. Plants from families like Caryophyllaceae, Polygonaceae, Poaceae, and Fabaceae have potential to grow in the hostile edaphic environment of serpentine soils and accumulate Ni in their tissues. Similar are the data provided by Osmani and Bani (2017) for Elbasan dumping sites where Ni-hyperaccumulator species O. chalcidica and Trifolium repens are suggested as suitable for revegetation. Usually, the colonization of metalliferous substrates is related to the development of a specific flora and consecutive ecological succession which started with annual and biennial plants and later replaced by perennials, trees, and shrubs. The process of colonization depends on plant populations existing in the neighboring non-degraded areas which are the main source of diaspores. The lower number of species is explained as the recently initiated process of natural colonization and poor in nutrient elements soil. The presence of naturally distributed Ni-hyperaccumulator species (O. chalcidica) in Përrenjas ex-mining sites is of great importance. This species is one of the best known Ni-hyperaccumulators with good biomass production which guarantees the success of phytomining and preservation of biodiversity.

8.4 Conclusions Phytomining Ni is NbS that can be applied in Albanian cities (Prrenjas, Elbasan). It can be regarded as a remediation strategy for both highly contaminated soils in the industrial zones and ultramafic soils. Although this green technology is more widely applicable in smelting and mining rural areas, it can be successfully applied in cases when cities are located in ultramafic areas with intensive mining activities, similar to those in Albania. The results of our studies confirm the successful application of phytoremediation as NbS in cities: (1) to revitalize the valuable soil resource and reuse the metals otherwise not utilized and thus counteract “linear” land use; (2) to enable urban greening and improve the living quality in urban areas; and (3) to apply urban agriculture. Phytoremediation and phytomining of Ni in the cities of Albania are successful because of the natural distribution of Ni-hyperaccumulator plants such as O.

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chalcidica which is one of the best candidates for phytoextraction/phytomining of Ni from metalliferous serpentine soils. Applying naturally distributed plants for nature-based remediation method, there is no risk leading to disastrous effects on the local ecosystem by the biological invasion of non-native species and this preserves biodiversity. The plants in the Ni-contaminated areas in southeast Albania are adapted to the physical and chemical properties of the metal-rich soils. Among the species in the study area, 28.3% of the taxa were known to tolerate high levels of Ni in their growing substrate. Our studies showed that the extraction of metals for several years with Ni-hyperaccumulator plants in contaminated and ultramafic soils will enable the reuse of metals, improve soil affecting the ecosystems, and reduce imports of primary resources into the urban system. Apart from applied nature-based remediation, our future work will be concentrated to combine phytoextraction processes with public recreation and thus make the lives of people in the areas healthy and pleasant. Acknowledgments  We would like to acknowledge the technical team of Agro-environment and Ecology Laboratory in the Agricultural University of Tirana, Albania.

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Chapter 9

Nature-based Wastewater Treatment Systems: An Overview of the Challenges of Small Capacity Plants in an Urban Environment Supriya Balaji Deshpande Abstract With the growing population and rapid industrialization, water shortage is a serious problem for mankind. Every solution that provides usable and fresh water to those in need is important. No source of water can be ignored in the persuasion of a sustainable water supply. With this in mind, the feasible and economically affordable treatment of sewage water concept emerged. As one study indicated, out of 72,000 MLD of wastewater that is generated in India, only 44% of it receives treatment. As freshwater sparsity increases day by day, it has become common to treat used water for use by humans for daily needs, animals, irrigation, and industrial processes. As such, various unique and efficient treatment methodologies have been developed by researchers and professionals worldwide. But these treatment methodologies have given rise to serious environmental threats in terms of disposal issues which cannot be ignored in the focus of the circular economy. As mentioned by Barry Commoner, a famous American Ecologist, and Biologist, the environmental cost of these treatment methodologies is enormous—be it energy cost, solid waste disposal cost, or land cost. Environmental innovation that promotes nature-based technologies jeopardizes firms’ profitability and sustainability of the treatment in the long term. This hesitation toward change is interfering with the widespread adaptation of NbS. It has been proven that NbS is far better at tackling stakeholder satisfaction, long-term effects on the environment, reducing capital cost, and operation-ease adaptability of the system as compared to the latest technologies. The areas where NbS lacks advantage are automation, remote operation, and maintenance, real-time parameter monitoring. There is also little research on handling toxic materials, in highly turbid and saline waters. Further research is S. B. Deshpande (*) Visiting Faculty in Civil Engineering, Bharati Vidyapeeth’s College of Engineering, Pune, Maharashtra, India Independent Consultant and Environmental Professional, Pune, Maharashtra, India http://bvucoepune.edu.in/ © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 A. Stefanakis et al. (eds.), Nature-based Solutions for Circular Management of Urban Water, Circular Economy and Sustainability, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-50725-0_9

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needed in these areas. This is also a challenge to the policymakers to develop the construction guidelines and operating standards which will suit the local e­ nvironment and demands of NbS. This is necessary to legalize the construction and operation of these systems. When the question of adaptation of green technologies or circular economy surfaces, many industries prefer to adopt the 3R technique in their production methods, resulting in treatment technologies generating high quantities of solid, liquid, and gaseous waste. It has been documented that the adaptation of NbS leaves a negative impact on the industrial economy. These technologies pose quite a challenge in terms of land and the reuse of treated wastewater. The main reason is that there is no consistency in inlet quality and quantity of water. As the inlet water quality and quantity are unpredictable, the outlet water quality is unreliable. While this problem can be solved by imposing responsibility on any particular department or private authorities, the effectiveness of the measures is questionable. This chapter discusses the various problems public authorities, lawmakers, and industrialists face. It also discusses how they are addressed in various parts of the world, and how with proper research, further improvements can be made. Keywords  Nature-based systems · Constructed wetlands · Root zone technology · Wastewater treatment · Urban pollution · Circular Economy · Sustainable Development

9.1 Introduction Urban areas everywhere in the world are facing challenges of pollution of water bodies by the open disposal of wastewater into rivers or lakes. It is not possible to collect a small quantity of waste in one place and treat it before disposal due to various constraints like space, the willingness of users to maintain the plant, and monetary investment. The varying nature of effluent quality is also a cause of concern. However, nature-based root zone technology-like treatment solutions have been proven very successful in tackling this problem. Sludge disposal is no major issue in the case of such small capacity plants as root zone-based systems absorb the sludge and convert it into manure, some sludge disposal collected at the inlet screen is an issue but that can be addressed by proper management of the inlet wastewater and periodic cleaning. Treated water from the Root Zone Plant can be used to produce/develop Azolla Agricultural farming, which is also referred to as small duckweed plant. The Azolla Farming is used as Live Feed Stock, human food, medicine, and water purifier. In 2015, as per the Government of India report (Goyal et al. n.d.), approximate sewage generation in the country is 61,754 MLD. Out of which only 37.18% means 22,963 MLD water gets treatment and the rest 38,791 MLD means 62.82% untreated sewage is directly discharged into the environment, may it be open water body or river or sea.

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The root Zone Treatment Method follows law of the nature and is technically maintenance-free. It works on self-regulatory dynamics and provides a balance between natural systems like air, water, soil, and bacteria (Live creatures). That is why this treatment technology is finding wider acceptability in developed and developing countries alike. Many research studies (Wadstrom et al. 2023; Gholipour and Stefanakis 2021; Stefanakis et al. 2014; Gopalan et al. 2009; Vymazal 2007) were conducted in the past decades and also going on to establish the economic and ecological feasibility of these systems either large-scale or small-scale. About 105 m3/day capacity plant in a college campus in the Indian State of Tamil Nadu (Raval and Desai 2015) is constructed in the Root Zone Technology Treatment method. It is built as a pure aerobic process and has no mechanical or electrical equipment. The sewage from the collection tank is filtered through a sand/gravel filter or steel mesh filter depending upon the type of suspended material in incoming sewage. The filtered water then enters the prepared reed bed or root zone where actual aerobic treatment of the sewage takes place. The water, after passing through this zone, is filtered in the planted gravel filter again. This filtered water is now ready for reuse and therefore collected in the final collection tank and supplied to the plantations or farmlands. The particles/sediments trapped in the stone filter or planted gravel filter are cleaned and scrapped periodically. The reed grows very fast producing large clumps of thick rhizomes. It helps to absorb nitrogen and soil control. One of the studies (Tasneem et al. 2012) in the literature reviews the effect of recycling of kitchen wastewater through root zone technology. The study is performed on the laboratory scale plant on an experiment basis. A combination of large and small gravel, coarse and fine sand, soil, and other materials like charcoal, phragmites australis (Reed), and Typha Latifolia are used. Filter beds were found to be effective in removing pH, electrical conductivity, TDS, and BOD to the values permissible to the discharge in public sewers and surface water bodies. Among all the materials, the filter bed with Phragmites Australis (Reed) was found very effective in reducing pollution load. These filter beds however were not at all effective in reducing E-coli and therefore author has suggested using any other technology or strategy or process to reduce E-coli and odor from the effluent. Pawaskar (2012) has proposed a modified root zone system that can be effectively used within the Nallah area to treat wastewater. This system is technically and economically more feasible than the traditional system. The modified Root Zone system required less footprint area than the conventional system and proved to be a technically and economically feasible option according to the study. It is proved that this system can handle a variety of pollutants with removal efficiency ranging from 79.45% (BOD), 79.45% (COD), and 83.07% (TSS). In one more research study (Raval and Desai 2015), the authors assessed the pathogen removal potential of the Root Zone technology from domestic wastewater. A combination of biological, physical, and chemical factors is responsible for the removal of pathogens in the wastewater. These processes include sedimentation and chemical reactions, natural decay and predation by water animals (zooplankton), and the biological substances released in the plant root zone. The effectiveness of

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these factors varies as per the wastewater flow rate, nature of the microphytes, and type of wetland. Therefore, each of the root zone systems is unique in the results of pathogen removal. The study was conducted on the following types of bacteria found in domestic wastewater, Total Coliform, Fecal Coliform, Salmonella Detection, Shigella Detection, and Vibrio Detection. Results were observed for the rainy, winter, and summer seasons. It is concluded from the above experiments that Constructed Wetlands provide aerobic conditions for microbial respiration to degrade organic matter due to photosynthesis by algae and oxygen and diffusion from the roots of the plant on the bed. The study strongly recommends Constructed Wetlands for the treatment of domestic wastewater for the removal of pathogen bacteria and other pollutants. One more pilot scale study (Vymazal 2005) revealed that when conventional treatment methods cost Rs. 12  =  00 per 1000  L for operation and maintenance, plants based on Root Zone Technology cost around Rs. 4.13 per 1000  L (2012 basis). This means it is very cost-competitive for small-capacity and isolated plants, whereas investing in large-capacity plants is practically not possible. A research study (Kakwani and Pradip 2020) was conducted on seasonal variation in treatment efficiency of subsurface horizontal flow constructed wetlands using aquatic macrophytes. The wetland ecosystem is very much dependent on evapotranspiration and naturally seasonal variations influence it greatly. This proves the uniqueness of each root zone technology concerning local conditions as mentioned earlier in this chapter. Constructed wetlands are an effective and environmentally friendly means of treating liquid and solid waste (Stefanakis 2022, 2020; Nielsen and Stefanakis 2020; Schultze-Nobre et al. 2017; Gaballah et al. 2021). Constructed wetlands could bring major economic benefits to developing countries through the provision of biomass and aquaculture. Such wetland systems can yield a significant profit for the local communities and might be a powerful tool for breaking the poverty cycle. Constructed wetlands are effective at reducing BOD/COD, nitrogen, phosphorus, and suspended solids load by up to 98% (Al-Wahaibi et al. 2021; Gaballah et al. 2022). However, despite the suitability of climate in developing countries, the spread of wetlands in such areas has been depressingly slow.

9.2 Materials and Methods Nature-based wastewater systems have been in operation for a long time on this planet; however, depending on the availability of the construction material and purpose of the end-use water, physical changes have been introduced by the users. The following are the most common types of construction methods of these systems. Figures 9.1 and 9.2 show the setup for water treatment used for the rejuvenation of the village pond in India (Gaballah et al. 2022).

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Fig. 9.1  Schematic of water treatment for pond. (Source: NIH 2018)

Fig. 9.2  Plan view of constructed wetland at Ibrahimpur – Masashi village. (Source: NIH 2018)

9.2.1 Reed Bed Filter/Planted Graywater Filter It is one of the natural and cheap methods of treating domestic, industrial, and agricultural liquid wastes. Reeds are coarse grasses that grow naturally in a wetland. They can take up pollutants from the soil. Reed beds are considered as an effective and reliable secondary and tertiary treatment method where land area is not a major constraint. Generally, a reed bed has shallow pits, installed with an inlet or outlet in a bed of limestones, pebbles, and graded sand. In this porous bed, reed plants with hollow roots bring oxygen into the filter bed. Two types of reed bed filters are available: horizontal and vertical horizontal flow filters. The horizontal graywater filter uses gravel as filter material. The water flows horizontally across vertical gravel and stone layers. The horizontal flow allows a flat construction but requires more space compared to the vertical graywater filter.

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The basin can be built in the soil as long as the outflow pipe ends up above the ground. The height difference required between the inflow pipe and outflow pipe of the filter is a minimum of 5 cm. Within this construction, even pipes from graywater sources that are low above the ground can be handled if the groundwater level allows an excavation. Figure 9.3 shows a cross-section of the horizontal, planted gravel filter design. Roots of reed plants provide a favorable environment for bacteria, which take dissolved organic matter and thus the BOD load is further reduced. A horizontal planted filter is simple in principle and requires almost no maintenance. However, design and construction require a thorough understanding of the treatment process and knowledge of the filter medium. Planted filters are suitable for pre-treated (pre-­ settled) domestic or industrial wastewater of COD content not higher than 500 mg/L (CPCB 2019; APHA 1992). Wastewater must be pretreated especially for suspended solids to prevent the clogging of filter media. The filter bed should not be deeper than the depth to which plants’ roots can grow (30–60 cm), as water tends to flow faster below the dense bed of roots. Shallow filters are more effective compared to deeper beds of the same volume. To prevent percolation of wastewater in-ground, the bottom must be sealed. While the top part of the filter media in a planted filter is kept horizontal, constructed bottom slopes down from inlet to outlet preferably by 1%. Vertical flow filter as shown in Fig. 9.4 is a reed-bed filter in which the effluent is periodically spread uniformly over the surface of the bed through a network of

Fig. 9.3  Cross section and plan of horizontal flow planted gravel filter. (Source: NIH, Roorkee)

Fig. 9.4  Schematic and cross section of reed bed vertical flow filter. (Source: NIH, Roorkee)

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pipes (Al-Wahaibi et al. 2021; Zahui et al. 2021). The matrix of the bed is made up of layers of sand and gravel. The effluent drains down vertically through the bed with air replacing the wastewater in the bed as it drains. The next dose traps the air which leads to a highly aerated system with good oxygen transfer permitting increased microbial growth and activity. The water is collected by drainage pipes at the bottom which discharges to the next reed bed or directly into a water body. The bed then remains empty of water until the next dose is applied. Hence, unlike the horizontal filters, vertical flow is not constantly flooded but free draining. Vertical flow reed beds are designed to be aerobic and to nitrify ammonia converting it into nitrates and nitrites. Therefore, they can cope with higher pollutant loads.

9.2.2 Floating Treatment Wetlands (FTWs) FTWs or islands are small artificial platforms as shown in Fig. 9.5 that allow aquatic emergent plants to grow in water that is typically too deep for them to survive. The roots of these plants take up nutrients and contaminants themselves. The plant roots grow down into the water creating dense columns of roots with lots of surface area. Thus, the floating island material and dense roots provide extensive surface area for microbes to grow  – forming a slimy layer of biofilm. The biofilm is where the majority of nutrient uptake and degradation occurs in an FTW system as shown in Fig. 9.6 (IISD 2021). The shelter provided by the floating mat also allows sediment and elements to settle by reducing turbulence and mixing by wind and waves. The unique ecosystem has the potential to capture nutrients and transform common pollutants into harmless by-products.

Fig. 9.5  Floating wetland treatment in the pond. (Source: NIH, Roorkee)

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Fig. 9.6  Processes involved in floating wetland treatment. (Source: NIH, Roorkee)

Fig. 9.7  Top view and cross section of silt chamber; front view of gabion filter. (Source: NIH)

9.2.3 Physical Treatment These are non-mechanized, low-operation maintenance filtration units using physical methods to provide treatment to wastewater to bring it under the discharge standards (IS 2296:1992). These will generally work on the principles of the sand and gravel filters replicating the natural soil principles of soil filtration. A. Screen chambers: These are simple square or rectangular chambers to filter out large solid particles and generally have a screen or mesh through which the water passes. B. Silt traps: In the inlet channel as shown in Fig. 9.7, a sediment or silt basin can be developed to trap the incoming sediment. In the upstream end of the silt basin, trap mesh can be installed to filter the inflow of floating materials including polythene, plastic bottles, coconut shell, etc. The size can vary according to the quantum of incoming pollutants involved in floating wetland treatment water. At the downstream end of the silt basin, a filter with gabion structure can be developed, so that any other lighter and small material which would pass through the screen chambers and silt basin would be filtered there.

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C. Sedimentation tank/basin: These are large tanks as shown in Fig. 9.8 that hold the incoming water for a long enough duration to allow silt to settle down. These need to be designed considering the quantum of inflowing water. A tank/basin is generally rectangular but can be of any other shape as per the availability of land. They can be made of concrete, brickwork, or small trenches lined with nonporous material. Root zone technology is a filtration system that works on biological principles. The plants’ roots in soil volume treat wastewater. The bacteria in the soil also help in this process. The root zone technology’s success is dependent on the proper selection of plant species. Table 9.1 shows the plant species preferred in different parts of the world. In India being an agriculture-based country, many plant varieties are used. Some of the popular plant species are Cattail, Acacia, Canna, Reeds, etc. During the treatment, impurities in wastewater like solids, and heavy metals are bound to the soil and released into the atmosphere through nitrification and denitrification processes. The processes are aerobic, anaerobic, and anoxic depending on the microbial presence and activities. The process design norms and physical sizing parameters of these plants are shown in Table 9.2. These are to be treated for reference purposes only as case-to-case basis design changes are possible. The aerobic activity is supplied with oxygen from the plant roots as well as via the surface of the system. Thus, aerobic activity is concentrated near the plant roots, while anaerobic activity prevails at some distance from the roots. This system of aerobic and anaerobic processes provides necessary conditions for a

Fig. 9.8  Schematic of sedimentation basin. (Source: NIH)

Table 9.1  The aquatic plant species that are preferably cultivated around the world Name of plant species Typhalatifolia (cattail) Typhaangustifolia (cattail) Phragmitesaustralis (reed) Phragmiteskarka (reed) Iris pseudacorus Yellow flag

Country where cultivated North America, Czech Republic England Switzerland Czech Republic Czech Republic

References Vymazal (2005) Sinicrope et al. (1990) www.sswm.info Vymazal (2011) Vymazal (2005)

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Table 9.2 Process design norms for subsurface flow wetlands for treating raw domestic wastewaters in India Parameters

Area requirement, m2/person1 BOD5 loading rate, g/m2-day2 Detention time, days Hydraulic loading rate, mm/day Depth of bed, meters The porosity of the bed, % First order reaction constant, KT/day Evapotranspiration losses, mm/ day3

Typical values European literature 2–5 7.5–12 2–7 (Must not exceed hydraulic conductivity of bed)

Recommended for India 1–2 17.5–35 2–3

0.6–0.9 30–40 0.17–0.18 10–15

>15

Adapted from Arceivala and Asolekar (2007) Constructed wetlands may be suitably downsized when wastewater is pre-treated b Based on raw sewage BOD = 50 g/person-day and 30% reduction in presetting c 1.0 mm/day = 10 m3/ha-day a

wide range of active microbial organisms. Aerobic as well as anaerobic groups of organisms are required for the wastewater pollutants to degrade. In the biological treatment process for conventional STP, both aerobic and anaerobic processes occur in different places, however, in root zone technology, both processes occur at the same locations.

9.2.4 Case Study at Kham Eco Park The Kham River, in the Aurangabad district of Maharashtra state in India, which flows through the city, is in a very bad state concerning environmental degradation. The seasonal variation of flow and neglected maintenance has made the situation worse. The impact on the surrounding is directly related to the degradation of flora and fauna and soil and water quality. The local municipal authority is trying to develop the area by rejuvenating the stretches of river step by step as shown in Fig. 9.9. In this study program, it is planned to develop a nature-based root one type STP for the sewage entering in the river from the surrounding area. The proposed STP plan was displayed at the site as shown in Figs. 9.10 and 9.11. The water bodies in the river bed-like ponds were also in bad shape as shown in Fig. 9.12. The team worked very hard on site and with involvement from local communities the inauguration of STP plant construction started as shown in Fig. 9.13. When it is decided to construct STP based on root zone technology, the water analysis of almost 16 points along the river bed is planned. A few locations could be

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Fig. 9.9  Eco-Park at Kham River

Fig. 9.10  STP plan showcased at site

seen from Figs. 9.14, 9.15, 9.16, 9.17, 9.18, and 9.19. The analysis was the basis of the STP design. Based on experience and discussions with experts in this field STP design is finalized. Easily available local material is selected to construct STP. Figure 9.20 is the piece of effluent collection pipe. An open drain pipe is used

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Fig. 9.11  STP site before construction

Fig. 9.12  Degraded lake quality

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Fig. 9.13  Involvement of local community Fig. 9.14 Stormwater drains, choked

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Fig. 9.15  Dry river bed in the summer season and entering in river

Fig. 9.16  Water sample collection location 1

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Fig. 9.18 Laboratory set-up 1

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Fig. 9.20  STP inlet during summer

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for the collection of wastewaters from Tabela. Since it contains very high solids, an open drain was found to be the best choice to avoid maintenance problems. All the design, either sizing or material selection is based on considering future operation and maintenance. It was very encouraging to see the participation of the local community in the construction stage, operation, and maintenance stages. The queries raised by locals during training were very thoughtful and confidence-building to the author and team. Though this was the very first attempt to construct an STP plant with people’s involvement, it was a very fulfilling experience for the team. After the collection of samples the testing of parameters is done at two labs parallelly to confirm the results. Laboratory setup is inspected and testing is physically inspected as per Figs.  9.18 and 9.19. The testing is done as per APHA and IS standards. The rating scale for pollution is used as per Table 9.3. The wastewater analysis at the inlet of STP is as per Table 9.4. After the analysis of all the samples summarily, it was observed that: 1. Freshwater shows the presence of biological and chemical load and that makes it unusable without treatment. 2. The river bed water is full of sewage water with the presence of E-coli. 3. A load of total suspended solids or turbidity is not a cause of concern as most of the solids are more settable in nature than colloidal ones. 4. Presence of biological nitrogen, biological phosphorus, and sulfates is seen and that is a cause of vegetation growth in ponds and lakes. 5. Total dissolved solids are quite high and indicate an influx of groundwater with contamination of minerals. 6. Traces of acidic water in the Jangali Mahadev Mandir area, Siddharth Garden (Sangam) show an influx of industrial effluent and need to be investigated further. 7. The seasonal variations will make changes in the pollution load, ­rainwater/ stormwater will carry the pollution over a larger area and therefore there is a need to channel the stormwater, otherwise it will be a great risk to the environment and humans settling around the area. 8. The localized hotspots of pollution generating concentrated load along the river need to be identified and studied in detail, such as Tabela drains. The provision of decentralized STPs that will be low-cost, easy to operate, and generate fertilizer through Vermicompost or any other method needs to be initiated.

9.3 Results and Discussion The above project is the author’s first attempt to construct a 6000 L/day STP plant on the ground after numerous laboratory-size trials. It was very challenging to study the area and select representative areas that will reflect the correct pollution and degradation level of the Kham River stretch consideration. It is now well established

Dissolved oxygen Electrical conductivity Total dissolved solids Total alkalinity Total hardness Extent of pollution

2 3 4 5 6 7

>7 0–75 0–375 21–50 0–150 Clean

Ranges CLASS 1 7–8.5 CLASS 2 8.6–8.7 6.8–6.9 7–5.1 75.1–150 375.1–750 50.1–70 150.1–300 Slight pollution

CLASS 3 8.8–8.9 6.7–6.8 5–4.1 150.1–225 750.1–1125 70.1–90 300.1–450 Moderate pollution

CLASS 4 9.0–9.1 6.5–6.7 4–3.1 225.1–300 1125.1–1500 90.1–120 450.1–600 Excess pollution

CLASS 5 >9.2 1500 >120 >600 Severe pollution

Partially adapted from Water Quality Assessment of Kham River, Aurangabad, Maharashtra, International Journal of Engineering Research & Technology (IJERT) ISSN: 2278-0181, Vol. 3 Issue 4, April – 2014, Sanman P. Kulkarni and Prof S. S. Jain

Parameters pH

Sr. No. 1

Table 9.3  Rating scale of quality of water

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Table 9.4  Wastewater analysis Location Longitude Latitude Description Ph Phosphates as total p Total nitrates as total n Bod Cod TSS Toc E-coli Particulate size analysis for settleable solids

Buffalo Tabela site no.1 75312664 19878727 Slurry from Tabela draining into the river 7.46 2574 Less than 1 825 2530 248 8441.72 Greater than 1600 60% pass through 04.25 mm mesh

that the participation of local communities is very important for the success of such a scheme. The author is very satisfied to observe the presence of local bodies in every stage of the execution of this project. The construction work was entrusted to a local construction firm and that helped to use local materials in the construction. Plants for the root zone were brought from the local college nursery and extra plants were used along the riverside pathway. The wastewater analysis is mentioned in Table  9.4 and compared with the rating scale of degradation of water bodies as mentioned in Table 9.3. In all 16 points, locations where wastewater analysis is carried out, water quality was found to be very bad. However, the treated water quality as shown in Fig.  9.25 is very good. The reduction of BOD and COD was up to 80–95% and SS reduction was almost 92%. The treated water through this root zone STP is being used for irrigation and extra water is being let out in the river. Even though the results in the first field trial are encouraging, it will lead us to many studies in the future which are based on the latest technologies like AI/ ML. The studies that we are looking forward to are below: 1. Nutrient mapping in soil 2. Seasonal variations in flow and water quality parameters. 3. Impact of changing weather conditions. As a way forward, AI/ML algorithm modeling can be applied to identify the sources of pollution in the Kham River. Principal component analysis (PCA)/factor analysis (FA) can be performed using log-transformed data to identify the factor(s) that influence the water quality during the entire sampling period and within the seasons (autumn, winter, and summer). Through the hierarchical cluster analysis of the sampling sites, these sites could be grouped into three clusters based on water quality, which can be categorized as low, moderate, and high pollution areas. Principal component analysis (PCA) could be applied to the entire dataset to identify four or more principal components showing major variations in quality like pH, conductivity, TP, and NO3-N as the key parameters responsible for variations in water quality. This will help to indicate that some of the sampling locations in the

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Kham River are heavily contaminated with pollutants from various sources which can be correlated with land use patterns and anthropogenic activities. Accurate prediction of independent and dependent factors as per seasonal variations will help predict the success of root zone technology treatment systems. This will help many economically deprived communities to opt for such systems without much hassle.

9.4 Conclusion Nature-based systems have been used by people for decades. Knowledge about the processes and technology being used is now well-known to many communities in various parts of the world. These technologies could be the first step in adapting to a circular economy and sustainable development and support in achieving SDGs (Kakwani and Kalbar 2022, 2020). However, the adaptation is not uniform. The use of local construction materials and local plants needs to be studied and investigated further to get the required efficiency from the treatment plant. The participation of the local community is very much essential in the operation and maintenance of the plant. The identification of pollution hotspots and mapping those in existing networks is important for making the plants more effective and efficient. The support from local government in identifying isolated effluent sources and providing necessary infrastructure is very important. The next task for the author and her team will be to work on models based on AI and ML. As can be seen, tons of data are available on plants, soil structure, and sewage quality concerning seasonal variations. This data can be used as preliminary data to develop an intelligent model and predict the results as per that. This will help to customize the technology and review its results for various locations and geographical areas.

9.4.1 6000 LPD STP Pictures for Reference (Figs. 9.20, 9.21, 9.22, 9.23, 9.24, and 9.25) Fig. 9.21  Collection pipe for effluent used in STP construction

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Fig. 9.23 Sedimentation Pond 2

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Fig. 9.25  Treated water quality

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Acknowledgments  The author would like to thank her colleagues from Ecosattva Environmental Solutions, Aurangabad, Dr. Jyoti Patil, National Institute of Hydrology Roorkee, Dr. Pradeep Kalbar, Indian Institute of Technology, Mumbai, and Dr. Professor Milind Gidde, Bharati Vidyapeeth Pune. With their support and guidance, this work has been possible and started working on the ground.

References Al-Wahaibi B, Jafary T, Al-Mamun A, Baawain MS, Aghbashio M, Tabatabaei M, Stefanakis AI (2021) Operational modifications of a full-scale experimental vertical flow constructed wetland with effluent recirculation to optimize total nitrogen removal. J Clean Prod 296:126558. https:// doi.org/10.1016/j.jclepro.2021 Arceivala SJ, Asolekar SR (2007) Wastewater treatment for pollution control and reuse. Tata McGraw-Hill Education, Noida APHA (1992) Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater. 18 Edition, American Public Health Association, Washington, D.C.  Last Accessed March 2022. https:// www.standardmethods.org/ CPCB (2019) Indicative guidelines for restoration of water bodies. Central Pollution Control Board Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change, Govt. of India. Last accessed September 2022. chrome-extension://efaidnbmnnnibpcajpcglclefindmkaj. https://cpcb.nic.in/ wqm/Ind-Guidelines-RestWaterBodies.pdf Gaballah MS, Ismail K, Aboagye D, Ismail MM, Sobhi M, Stefanakis AI (2021) Effect of design and operational parameters on nutrients and heavy metals removal in pilot floating treatment wetlands with Eichhornia Crassipes treating polluted lake water. Environ Sci Pollut Res 28:25664–25678. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11356-­021-­12442-­7 Gaballah MS, Abdelwahab O, Barakat KM, Stefanakis AI (2022) A pilot system integrating a settling technique and a horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetland for the treatment of polluted lake water. Chemosphere 295:133844 Gholipour A, Stefanakis AI (2021) A full-scale anaerobic baffled reactor and hybrid constructed wetland for university dormitory wastewater treatment and reuse in an arid and warm climate. Ecol Eng 170:106360 Gopalan B, Thattai DV, Rahman A (2009) Root zone technology for campus waste water treatment. J Environ Res Dev 3:3 Goyal VC, Patil JP, Singh AK (n.d.) Guidebook on interventions pond rejuvenation for including the outcomes of DST’s Networking Project on Revival of Village Ponds through Scientific Interventions – an initiative of National Geospatial Program (NGP) (Erstwhile NRDMS), DST National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee IISD (2021) Floating treatment wetlands: keeping our fresh water clean and healthy. International Institute of Sustainable Development https://www.iisd.org/story/floating-­ treatmentwetlands/#:~:text=Why%20Do%20We%20Need%20Floating,shallow%20 lakes%2C%20are%20in%20trouble.&text=Wetlands%20have%20the%20natural%20 capacity,nutrients%20and%20break%20down%20contaminants. Last Accessed on 08 February 2022 Kakwani NS, Kalbar PP (2020) Review of circular economy in the urban water sector: challenges and opportunities in India. J Environ Manag 271:111010. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jenvman.2020.111010 Kakwani NS, Kalbar PP (2022) Measuring urban water circularity: development and implementation of a water circularity indicator. Sustain Prod Consum 31:723–735

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Kakwani NS, Pradip P (2020) Review of circular economy in the urban water sector: challenges and opportunities in India. Kalbar J Environ Manag 271:111010. https://doi.org/10.1016/j. jenvman.2020.111010 Nielsen S, Stefanakis AI (2020) Sustainable dewatering of industrial sludges in sludge treatment reed beds: experiences from pilot and full-scale studies under different climates. Appl Sci 10(21). https://doi.org/10.3390/app10217446 Pawaskar SR (2012) Application of modified rootzone treatment system for wastewater treatment within Nallah area. J Ecol Environ Sci 3(1):46–49 Raval AA, Desai PB (2015) Root zone technology: reviewing its past and present. Int J Curr Microbiol App Sci 4(7):238–247 Schultze-Nobre L, Wiessner A, Bartsch C, Paschke H, Stefanakis AI, Aylward LA, Kuschk P (2017) Removal of dimethylphenols and ammonium in laboratory-scale horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands. Eng Life Sci 17(12):1224–1233 Sinicrope TL, Hine PG, Warren RS, Niering WA (1990) Restoration of an impounded salt marsh in New England. Estuaries 13:25–30. Last Accessed February 2022. https://doi. org/10.2307/1351429 Stefanakis AI (2020) The fate of MTBE and BTEX in constructed wetlands. Appl Sci 10:127. https://doi.org/10.3390/app10010127 Stefanakis AI (2022) Constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment in hot and arid climates. Springer Nature Switzerland AG, Cham Stefanakis AI, Akratos CS, Tsihrintzis VA (2014) Vertical flow constructed wetlands: eco-­ engineering systems for wastewater and sludge treatment, 1st edn. Elsevier Publishing, Amsterdam Tasneem F et al (2012) Recycling of kitchen wastewater through root zone treatment. Carmelight 9(1):27–34 Vymazal J (2005) Horizontal sub-surface flow and hybrid constructed wetlands systems for wastewater treatment. Ecol Eng 5(25):47890 Vymazal J (2007) Removal of nutrients in various types of constructed wetlands. Sci Total Environ 380(1–3):4865 Vymazal J (2011) Constructed wetlands for wastewater treatment: five decades of experience. Environ Sci Technol 45(1):61–69. https://doi.org/10.1021/es101403q. Epub 2010 Aug 26 Wadstrom C, Sodergren K, Palm J (2023) Exploring total economic values in an emerging urban circular wastewater system. Water Res 233:119806 Zahui FM, Quattara JMP, Kamagate M, Coulibaly L, Stefanakis AI (2021) Effect of plant species on the performance and bacteria density profile in vertical flow constructed wetlands for domestic wastewater treatment in a tropical climate. Water 13(24):3485. https://doi. org/10.3390/w13243485

Chapter 10

Bioremediation of Wastewater from the Tanning Industry Under a Circular Economy Model Nayeli Montalvo-Romero, Aarón Montiel-Rosales, Luis Carlos SandovalHerazo, and Rubén Purroy-Vásquez Abstract The pollution generated by wastewater discharges from the leather tanning industry generates various diseases and negatively affects flora and fauna. The tanning industry is responsible for processing leather into leather. However, the wastewater from tanneries is considered toxic since it contains a high organic load, acidic waters with chromium, and dissolved salt, among other malignant components. It is estimated that 20100 L of water are required for every kilo of skin processed. In 2015, FAO estimated a global production of 366,867 thousand pieces, representing a significant water resource. It is, then, the objective of the chapter to discuss the mechanism of bioremediation of wastewater from the tanning industry supported by the model of Circular Economy as a treatment strategy. Bioremediation is presented as a biotechnological approach capable of eliminating toxic contaminants. These processes are preferred over others, being friendly and non-invasive to the environment. It is then bioremediation, a strategy that allows recovering treated water for various purposes. It is established that bioremediation addresses the management of toxic agents and polluting processes while paying for the care of water and health under a framework of eco-efficiency in tanneries. Keywords Tanning Industry · Wastewater · Bioremediation · Circular Economy · Sustainability

N. Montalvo-Romero · A. Montiel-Rosales (*) · L. C. Sandoval-Herazo Division of Postgraduate Studies and Research, National Technological Institute of Mexico/ HTI of Misantla, Misantla, Mexico e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected] R. Purroy-Vásquez National Technological Institute of Mexico/HTI of Zongolica, Zongolica, Mexico e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 A. Stefanakis et al. (eds.), Nature-based Solutions for Circular Management of Urban Water, Circular Economy and Sustainability, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-50725-0_10

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10.1 Introduction Of the wastewater from households, cities, and industry, 80% is discharged into the environment without adequate treatment (UN-Water 2021). Contaminated water is a factor that can transmit various diseases, e.g., cholera, dysentery, typhoid fever, polio, and hepatitis A.  In addition, it is estimated that contamination of drinking water causes more than 502,000 deaths from diarrhea per year (World Health Organization 2019). According to the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UNDESA), water is considered the center of sustainable development and is considered a fundamental factor for socio-economic development, healthy ecosystems, and the very survival of humanity. In addition, it reduces morbidity, and improves the health, well-being, and productivity of nations (United Nations 2015). Water use efficiency has been highlighted as a critical indicator in the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (UN-Water 2021). In 2015, in the 42 countries (representing 18% of the world’s population) that reported on the generation and treatment of total wastewater flows, 32% received at least some treatment. The proportion of treated industrial wastewater flow was 30% (UN-Habitat and WHO 2021). In 2018, the industrial sector had a water use efficiency equivalent to USD 32/m3, the service sector USD 112/m3, and the agriculture sector USD 0.60/m3; compared to 2015, this represents an increase of 15% in the industrial sector, 8% in the service sector, and 8% in the agricultural sector (FAO and UN-Water 2021). Data from the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organization) system, AQUASTAT shows that about 3928 km3 of fresh water are extracted each year in the world; of which, it is estimated that 44% (1716 km3 per year) is consumed in agriculture, the remaining 56% (2212 km3 per year) is released into the environment as wastewater in the form of municipal and industrial effluents and agricultural drainage water (UN-Water 2017). According to the UN (United Nations), wastewater comprises approximately 99% water and 1% dissolved, colloidal, and suspended solids (UN-Water 2017). In Mexico, according to INEGI (National Institute of Statistics and Geography) and CONAGUA (National Water Commission), the overexploitation of aquifers is a severe problem that has been increasing since 1975, there were 32 aquifers in this condition; in 2004, there were 104, and in 2019 there were 157; however, water contamination can cause intestinal infectious diseases; in 2019, in our country, these conditions were the sixth cause of death in children under one-year-old, registering 353 deaths; water is contaminated by industrial, hazardous, solid and/or domestic waste. Industrial waste is organic and inorganic waste produced by industrial or commercial enterprises in their production processes (INEGI and CONAGUA 2018a). In Mexico, 76% of water is used in agriculture, 14% in public supply, 5% in thermoelectric plants, and 5% in industry (INEGI and CONAGUA 2018b). Now, in Mexico, according to the Ministry of Environment and Natural Resources (SEMARNAT 2010), one of the industrial sectors that generate pollution to the

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environment is the leather industry; this sector generates waste of “deflesh”, “scrape”, chrome leather dust and trimming; in addition, it contaminates water with salts, chromium, organic matter, fats, vegetable and synthetic tannins, and the air with dust, gases, and fumes. In Comisión Estatal del Agua (2014), it is mentioned that the leather tanning industry can well be considered―due to the type of waste it generates throughout its production process―as one of the most polluting. This industry is a pillar of the economy in several states of the country. Generally, the wastewater generated from the tannery process is discharged into the municipal waters of the city without treatment, where it is mixed with other waste to join the aquifers finally. The liquid effluents of the tanning industry have high concentrations of organic matter, nitrogen compounds, sulfides, high pH, suspended solids and chromium compounds. Therefore, the high load of organic matter causes the creation of anaerobic conditions of biodegradation, due to the high consumption of dissolved oxygen, then, these conditions in addition to affecting aquatic life, they favor the production of some harmful gases such as, e.g., hydrogen sulfide, carbon dioxide, and methane. Moreover, the leather manufacturing industry has significant environmental impacts (Sawalha et al. 2019). The leather industries consume a large amount of fresh water and various chemicals during the leather-making process and expel different solid waste materials, hides, polishing powder materials, and sewage sludge; in addition, the industrial leather waste contains a significant amount of hazardous substances such as heavy metals (e.g., cadmium, chromium, lead, nickel, and cobalt), aluminum sulfate, and magnesium oxide; unsafe disposal of sewage sludge creates serious environmental problems in soil and groundwater (Yuvaraj et al. 2020). It is estimated that between 20 and 100  m3 of water is consumed per ton of raw skin processed (Lorber et al. 2007). Waste disposal after leather tanning has become a cause of concern worldwide, as conventional disposal methods are not viable for tanned leather waste, such as conversion from Cr3+ to Cr6+, hydrogen cyanide, nitrogen oxide, and ammonia emissions (Rosu et al. 2018). The industrial process of leather begins with the slaughter of livestock, through refrigeration, until its commercialization, either tanned, semi-finished, or finished leather (Dussel Peters and Cárdenas Castro 2018). According to DENUE 2021 (INEGI 2021), the tanning and finishing of leather and leather recorded 1023 economic units. The states with the highest number of economic units were Guanajuato (757), Jalisco (103), and Michoacán de Ocampo (20). There are two main types of tanning: (a) vegetable tanning―these leathers become contact with water and are generally used in the manufacture of shoe soles, straps, luggage, and upholstery―are based on the use of tannins extracted from the bark, leaves, and fruits of some trees and (b) chrome tanning―this type of tanning, It is currently the most used where leathers are known as “wet blue”, since they are lighter, these leathers are used in the production of footwear, clothing, manufactures, and industrial articles―, this type of skin is immersed in saline and acid solution, to be subsequently bathed in a solution of chromium sulfate (UTEPI 2008).

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Chromium (Cr) is one of the most important environmental concerns related to tanneries. The most used process for leather tanning is chrome tanning; this implies the presence of chromium in both wastewater and leather waste; leather waste must be disposed of in landfills; which entails a considerable environmental impact and high cost (Zuriaga-Agustí et al. 2015). The tannery industry generates a large amount of waste with a high concentration of Cr, being classified as hazardous waste (Bizzi et al. 2020), not only for the environment but also for living organisms, including humans, due to their potential toxicity (Pecha et al. 2021); tannery sludge (Ts) and chrome-tanned leather shavings (CTLs) are considered hazardous waste, which is produced considerably in industrial activities (Long et al. 2021). It is estimated that leather processing produces 200 times more waste than the total production of the product (Chojnacka et al. 2021); therefore, solid, liquid, and gaseous emissions from the sector cause an imbalance in the environment (Kanagaraj et al. 2020). Leather wastewater contains several toxic pollutants, with a high concentration of trivalent chromium (Cr(III)), adversely affecting wastewater treatment (Wang et al. 2021). In this sense, developing alternative treatments for these wastes, which are environmentally friendly, are important research topics. Based on the above, this chapter analyzes and discusses the biotechnology strategy of bioremediation as a management mechanism for the reuse of wastewater from the tanning industry aligned with the Circular Economy model, able to remove toxic contaminants from tannery wastewater and its viable reuse of treated water in the same tanning process. In addition to Sect. 10.1 “Introduction”, the chapter is integrated from Sect. 10.2 “Materials and Methods”, which establishes the methodological approach used to analyze the feasibility of bioremediation in the tannery sector; Section 10.3 “Results”, describes the implications for the adoption of bioremediation as a mechanism of the Circular Economy; Section 10.4 “Discussion”, analyzes the findings of the results based on the results reported by the scientific community; finally, Section 10.5 “Conclusions”, establishes the contribution of the chapter in the management of wastewater from bioremediation under a Circular Economy scheme.

10.2 Materials and Methods Figure 10.1 describes the methodological approach used in this study. The analysis strategy involves (a) explaining the operational process of leather tanning, (b) identifying the parameters of the wastewater components of the tanning process, (c) evaluating the bioremediation biotechnologies applied in wastewater treatment, and (d) analyzing the implications on the impacts from the Circular Economy model― environment, economic and social―.

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Start Identification of the tanning process

Wastewater characteristics

Impact on the Circular Economy Model

Evaluation of bioremediation techniques Environment

Economic

Social

End

Fig. 10.1  Methodological strategy for the study

10.3 Results This section describes the results of the findings. This section is subdivided into four sections of the established methodology.

10.3.1 Identification of the Tanning Process Leather is a natural biopolymer manufactured by stabilizing the skin’s protein against attack by microbes, acids, alkalis, and heat using chemical crosslinkers called tanning agents (Renganath Rao et al. 2021). The leather process consists of four main processing phases: (i) ribera (rehydration, cleaning, and hair removal), (ii) tanning (stabilizing collagen protein to transform skin into leather), (iii) post-­ tanning (provides the proper texture, feel, color, and structural properties), and (iv) leather finishing (adding sensory properties to leather); the post-tanning stage is carried out in aqueous medium in rotating drums and consists of the chemical processes of deacidulation, retanning, dyeing, lubrication, and fixation (Hansen et al. 2021a). According to Hansen et al. (2021b), the transformation of raw hides into finished leather involves subjecting the hides to a series of physical, physicochemical, and chemical operations; physicochemical and chemical operations are carried out in an aqueous medium―wet operations―using rotating drums and producing liquid effluents; washes are also performed during wet operations, consuming water and producing additional liquid effluents.

10.3.2 Wastewater Characteristics The wastewater from the tannery is highly toxic, characterized mainly by the values shown in Table 10.1.

COD (mg L−1) 1497–3468

1238–2100

5235 4480 4230

23,678.84– 24,987.84

2625.5

7680

BOD (mg L−1) –

–

– – –

2494.24– 3111.76

197.5

1326

7.15

3.54

5.55– 6.49

pH 8.04– 9.29 7.5– 7.9 8.35 9.74 –

18.4

–

0.038– 0.042

–

–

–

Cr –

2.36

–

10,002.45– 10,157.55

– – –

–

Electrical Conductivity (μS cm−1) 10.8–19.41

–

–

2347.62– 4085.18

2275 2070 3270

200–390

–

–

–

– – –

105–180

Volatile Total Suspended Suspended Solids (mg L−1) Solids (mg L−1) – –

Table 10.1  Characteristics of wastewater from the tanning industry

–

–

–

325 295 384

160–230

–

18,580

24.94– 33.34

100 56 134

–

Total Kjeldahl Nitrogen SO4−2 (mg L−1) (g L−1) – 153

Resource Luján-Facundo et al. (2018) 98–168 Ganesh et al. (2015) 185 Kabdaçh et al. (1999) 135 – Sengül and Gürel (1993) 13.42– Appiah-­ 20.18 Brempong et al. (2022) 325 Fahim et al. (2006) – Benhadji et al. (2011)

NH4-N (g L−1) 19

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Considering the above, wastewater from the tanning industry represents a high level of organic pollutants represented by COD concentrations above 3000 mg L−1, with trivalent chromium, sulfide, and sodium chloride (Houshyar et al. 2012).

10.3.3 Evaluation of Bioremediation Techniques Bioremediation is an approach to cleaning up polluted environments (Iwamoto and Nasu 2001); from biodegradable processes, usually using microorganisms (Gallego et  al. 2001), focused on eliminating, attenuating or transforming polluting substances through biological processes (Lynch and Moffat 2005); being a safe procedure in the fight against the anthropogenic (Paliwal et al. 2012). Bioremediation has cleaning applications in contaminated soil water, sludge, and waste streams (Boopathy 2000). Bioremediation is a novel approach; various bioprocesses have been developed and applied. Therefore, it is of interest to this study to know the most recent trends and identify the potential of bioremediation techniques in the waters of the tanning industry of the last decade, as it is a precious resource for this sector, with a view to its potential reuse. Sharma and Malaviya (2016) present a consortium of ascomycetous fungi (Cladosporeum perangustum, Penicillium commune, Paecilomyces lilacinus, and Fusarium equiseti) by nylon mesh in a bioreactor; the authors report a reduction of up to 82.52% of COD, the color of 86.19%, Cr(VI) of 100%, Total Cr of 99.92% and Total Pb of 95.91%. In Das et al. (2017), phycoremediation is presented as a culture of the green microalgae strain, Chlorella vulgaris; the crop eliminated 100% Cr, COD at 94.74%, and BOD at 95.93%. The consortium Chlorella sp. and Phormidium sp., tested by Das et al. (2018), reduced Cr from between 90.17% and 94.45%, COD and BOD from ≥90%. Sharma and Malaviya (2013) cultivated Aspergillus Niger SPFSL 2-a in wastewater, obtaining a reduction of COD of 81.58%, TSS of 92.55%, and electrical conductivity of 11.90%. A tightening approach with activated charcoal promoted the growth of Chlorella protothecoides, with an absorption of Cr(III) achieving an elimination of 99.6% (Sforza et al. 2020). In Sharma and Malaviya (2014), Fusarium chlamydosporium SPFS2-g is used as a means of treatment, obtaining a reduction of 71.80% in COD, 100% of Cr, and 36.47% of TSS. Suresh et al. (2021) assess the ability of Bacillus thuringiensis and Staphylococcus capitis to detoxify Cr(VI), and the results show that these bacteria can remove it by 86.42 and 97.34%, respectively. Whereas Adam et al. (2015) evaluated the performance of five marine microalgae, removing Cr as follows: 25.2% Chlorella marina, 5.49% Isochrysis galbana, 34.0% Tetraselmis sp., 13.1% Nannochloropsis salina, and 16.4% Dunaliella salina. In Ashraf et al. (2018), 11 bacterial strains are presented in the bio-treatment of wastewater; of these, the authors report that Enterobacter sp. HU38, Microbacterium arborescens HU33, and Pantoea stewartii ASI11, remove Cr by 70, 63, 57, 87, and 54%, respectively.

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Vijayaraj et al. (2018) report that Citrobacter freundii can remove Cr by 73%, COD and BOD by 80 and 86%, respectively. In Vijayaraj et al. (2020), Marinobacter hydrochoclasticus, a marine bacterium, can reduce Cr by 88% and COD by 69%. Chaudhary et  al. (2019) studied the fungal strain Aspergillus fumigatus MCC 1175 in the remediation of the Cr with an efficiency of 65.1%. In Fitriyanto et al. (2021), Fenton is used as a bioremediation agent, reducing COD by 66.7%, Cr by 11.8%, and Cr(VI) by 11.5%. 10.3.3.1 Other Techniques Some approaches in the treatment of tanning process residues imply, e.g., that waste collagen fiber (WCF) from non-chrome-plated metal complex-tanned leather chips was converted to bio-additive (DCH) through catalytic oxidation of peroxide to upgrade the performance of chrome-free leather tanned with a biomass-derived aldehyde (BAT), the authors report that this suggests that the prepared DCH can manufacture BAT-tanned high-performance chrome-free leather (Ding et al. 2021b). In Popiolski et al. (2022) Cr is removed from residual tanned leather by using microwave (MW) energy, achieving 99% extraction efficiency after 12 min of treatment at 60 °C; the MAE (microwave-assisted extraction) process enabled high Cr removal, complexing recycling, and reduced waste generation; an amino-terminated waterborne polyurethane-based polymeric dye (AWPUD) was synthesized for high-­ performance chrome-tanned leather dyeing with a biomass-derived aldehyde (BAT) (Ding et al. 2021a). In Liu et al. (2021), a potential application of P(AA-AM-C_12 DM) promotes dye absorption with a chromium-free eco-friendly organic tanning system, significantly promoting cleaner production in the leather industry. In J. Wang et al. (2021), a Cr(III) adsorption protein (MerP) was shown on the cell surface of Escherichia coli and then combined with a system of magnetic granules to facilitate the adsorption of Cr(III); the removal of chromium(III) from the solid leather waste was carried out in two steps: the leaching step and the ion exchange step. The orthogonal method was applied to the leaching process with H2SO4 as the leaching agent, and the leaching rate was almost 100%. The adsorption and desorption of Cr3+ with 732# cation exchange resins in the ion exchange process were investigated (Wang et al. 2019). An integrated technology comprising a novel salt-free and high-depletion chromium tanning process by direct recycling of tanning wastewater was developed for highly efficient removal of Cr from post-tanning baths; the results indicated that, in the new technology, the utilization rate of total Cr reached 98.6% (conventional 91.2%), the total discharge of chromium was reduced by 84.2% from the source, and the spent tanning liquor could be fully recycled for at least ten cycles, while the properties of the leather were not affected (Zhang et al. 2017). In de Aquim et al. (2019), the environmental impact of the water used by tanneries is minimized through the study of the possibilities of reusing wastewater from tanning baths.

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10.3.4 Impact on the Circular Economy Model The demands of the current context, in which efforts are closing toward the search for integral sustainability to guarantee healthy living conditions for current and future generations, direct the need to develop efficient and environmentally friendly production systems. Industries producing goods, such as the tanning plant analyzed in this study, must, from environmental responsibility, manage the waste they generate as part of their production process. It is necessary to redesign the production processes so that the wastewater from the tannery is treated and reused by the same or another industry of interest and/or is reincorporated into the environment without affecting the ecosystem. Given this need, the Circular Economy (CE) model is presented as a contemporary alternative that has been attracting the attention of researchers. The CE model allows the development of integrated systems with reverse recirculation, i.e., allows the revalorization of cogenerated waste as part of the production process and recycling it to reuse it as inputs in the same production chain or in others in such a way that the economic life of the input is extended as much as possible. Figure 10.2 presents a wastewater management system for the tanning industry, which integrates bioremediation techniques, and thus decontaminates the wastewater and reuses it in the tanning mill process or another industry and/or its reincorporation into the environment. The system under this approach aligns with the

Fig. 10.2  Wastewater management system of the tanning industry with a comprehensive approach to bioremediation, from the CE model

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overriding principle of the CE, recycling. With this approach, unwanted outputs of the leather production process, wastewater, are closed. 10.3.4.1 Environment The environment benefits from a friendly and non-invasive model, allowing it to recover part of the resources used by the tanning industry to produce skins. Sustainability is a priority issue, where the concern is to regenerate and conserve environmental conditions that the human footprint has deteriorated. Then, the CE model allows us to pay for the achievement of sustainability. 10.3.4.2 Economic Productive sectors such as the tanning industry or others, which revalue and reincorporate treated water into their production processes, will benefit from reincorporating recycled wastewater previously treated by bioremediation techniques. The reuse of recycled water will reduce the costs associated with the acquisition of water resources. 10.3.4.3 Social Society benefits from developing wastewater treatment systems with a CE approach since the risk of acquiring or developing diseases associated with pollutant discharges, which affect the population’s health and quality of life, is minimized.

10.4 Discussion The development of humanity is inexorably linked to the state of the environment. Population growth and the satisfaction of the needs of humanity have led to an irrational use of natural resources. It is the tannery industry that is responsible for environmental degradation. Even though multiple strategies have been developed to address the management of wastewater generated by the tanning process, considering strategies for redesigning products and processes, they must be aligned integrally with the EC approach so that removing toxic waste allows the reuse of treated industrial waters from bioremediation and, thus, pay to mitigate the damage to the environment, water, and health. Bioremediation is presented in this study as a strategic ally with the ability to remedy the contaminated waters of the tannery. In this sense, it coincides with Houshyar et al. (2012) in that the bio-treatment processes are adequate due to the high level of organic content of the tannery wastewater. However, the efficiency of

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such bio-treatments is affected by the high level of inorganic compounds, e.g., chromium can affect the activity of microorganisms. Despite this, bioremediation is a viable alternative to conventional techniques due to recent advances in removing heavy metals based on microorganisms. This is because microorganisms have evolved by developing detoxification mechanisms, as cited by Igiri et al. (2018). In addition, it coincides with Chaudhary et al. (2017), in which biological treatments are more favorable and cost-effective than other methods. In addition to being unprofitable or ecological (Tripathi et al. 2021), they are generators of a large amount of sludge in the environment (Saxena and Bharagava 2016). Since physicochemical strategies that are not ecologically focused employ many chemicals, as mentioned (Laxmi and Kaushik 2020). Therefore, it coincides with Juwarkar et al. (2010) in that bioremediation is a preferred alternative to conventional methods. In addition, it coincides with Vijayaraj et al. (2018), where bioremediation improves water quality for safe discharge. It is considered that the ecosystem’s restoration time could be minimized if microbial processes are intensified with greater degradative capacities and a greater balance of nutrients, as well as proposed by Paliwal et al. (2012). Moreover, as part of the findings of this study, it was identified that bioremediation approaches could provide efficient results in less than 10 days, even after 5 hours of treatment. Considering the above, bioremediation is the best and most environmentally friendly tool in the management of contaminated water; of all treatment technologies, a situation that is shared with Ashraf et al. (2018) and with Gupta et al. (2019); in addition to being economically viable, as mentioned by Vijayaraj et al. (2020). Finally, it is an inexorable reality that regional human dynamics generate an imbalance in the environment. Rapid population growth, coupled with industrialization, brings with it a demand for urban spaces; In this sense, it is the water resource, an important factor that requires both the population and the industry for its development. Therefore, remediation strategies with a CE approach are welcome to mitigate the adverse effects of the human footprint.

10.5 Conclusions The chapter analyzes and discusses the mechanism of bioremediation as a biotechnological strategy that, aligned with the Circular Economy model, can contribute to managing the wastewater of the tanning industry, removing its toxic contaminants, and then the same tanning chain or another chain benefits from the treated water. The findings of this study indicate that the management of wastewater from the tanning industry, from bioremediation to sustainable biotechnology, is presented as a strategy with a significant beneficial impact. In the first instance on (a) society, since the proper management of toxic wastewater emanating from the production of hides through bioremediation contributes to minimizing the diseases that are attributed to pollution by industrial waters―e.g., cholera, dysentery, typhoid fever, poliomyelitis―; in the second stay, it benefits the (b) environment, since the system of

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removal of pollutants from wastewater and the reuse of treated water within the value chain of the tanning industry or another industry with a Circular Economy approach, allowing the discharges of treated water to have the least possible negative impact on flora and fauna. In addition, this biotechnology benefits the (c) tanning companies, which by adopting the wastewater management system, allow to make efficient the use-reuse of the water system within the value chain, at the same time that they pay to reduce the water footprint due to toxic water discharges, contributing to an improvement of processes. Bioremediation as biotechnology contributes to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In this sense, it contributes to contribute directly to the fulfillment of SDG 6 “Ensure the availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all” by reducing pollution associated with the emission of toxic products in tannery wastewater while increasing the reuse of said water resource and, SDG 12 “Ensure sustainable consumption and production patterns” as the proposed approach is a strategy that contributes to reducing the generation of wastes that are released into the atmosphere, water, and soil, thus minimizing their adverse effects on human health and the environment. Finally, it is considered that bioremediation pays in managing toxic agents and polluting processes while mitigating the negative impact on water and health.

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Chapter 11

Sustainable Decentralized Urban Water and Wastewater Treatment in Off-grid Areas of Developing Countries Using NbS and Integrated Green Technologies Aqib Hassan Ali Khan, Amna Kiyani, Blanca Velasco-Arroyo, Carlos Rad, Muhammad Abeer Khan, Sandra Curiel-Alegre, Mazhar Iqbal, and Rocío Barros Abstract The harsh impacts of climate change, once considered a myth by the masses, have become a reality. Each year we are observing the problems of extreme weather and natural disasters, and among the most vulnerable countries lie the developing countries, like in the sub-continent region (including Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, and Yemen) or the African region (Angola, Benin, Burkina Faso, Burundi, and the Central African Republic). Despite the rapid growth of these regions economically and in terms of population, the shortage of affordable and effective urban water and wastewater treatment remains a critical problem. It is mostly due to a lack of resources for proper treatment facilities, which leads to the spread of oral-fecal diseases. The nature-based systems have the market potential for water utilization and implementation in permitted water environments (irrigation systems), for the generation of bioenergy in closed loops (circular economy), resource recovery and ornamentation, and other beneficial ecosystem services, e.g., pollinators attraction from plants. Further, they can be used for stormwater management, flood protection and risk management, implementation of blue-green infrastructures, urban water in food, water, and energy ecosystem, and urban water pollution control.

A. H. A. Khan (*) · R. Barros International Research Center in Critical Raw Materials for Advanced Industrial Technologies, Universidad de Burgos, Burgos, Spain e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected] A. Kiyani Department of Biosciences, COMSATS University Islamabad, Islamabad, Pakistan e-mail: [email protected] B. Velasco-Arroyo Department of Biotechnology and Food Science, Faculty of Sciences, University of Burgos, Burgos, Spain e-mail: [email protected] © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Switzerland AG 2024 A. Stefanakis et al. (eds.), Nature-based Solutions for Circular Management of Urban Water, Circular Economy and Sustainability, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-50725-0_11

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Keywords  Nature-based systems · Constructed wetlands · Anaerobic reactors · Decentralized wastewater treatment · Developing countries · Off-grid wastewater treatment

11.1 Introduction In recent times, an increased trend of migration toward cities has been observed. This rapidly growing global urbanization was primally due to many reasons that include availability of jobs, good quality medical, sanitation, education facilities, well-connected roads, and access to civil and social security departments (Hájek et al. 2021). In short, it is not wrong to say that most of the global population wants to live on-grid facilities provided by the government. However, even today, half of the world’s population exists in rural and peri-urban regions (Capodaglio et  al. 2017). A rural region is an open swath of land that has few homes or other buildings, and not very many people, while peri-urban regions are the settlements in proximity of large urban areas. One thing is common in both regions. It is this that they are usually without the services and facilities proper of such areas. Hence, they are off-­ grid, and need off-grid solution to prevent any negative impact on the on-grid systems provided by the government or managed independently by private citizens. This problem in developing countries (like Pakistan, China, India, Nigeria, Cameroon, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Peru, and others) and least or underdeveloped countries (like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Gambia, Senegal, Yemen, Somalia, Benin, and others) further exacerbates due to the disparities between the

C. Rad Research Group in Composting (UBUCOMP), University of Burgos, Faculty of Sciences, Burgos, Spain e-mail: [email protected] M. A. Khan Institute of Environmental Studies, University of Karachi, Karachi, Pakistan S. Curiel-Alegre International Research Center in Critical Raw Materials for Advanced Industrial Technologies, Universidad de Burgos, Burgos, Spain Research Group in Composting (UBUCOMP), University of Burgos, Faculty of Sciences, Burgos, Spain e-mail: [email protected] M. Iqbal Department of Environmental Sciences, Faculty of Biological Sciences, Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad, Pakistan e-mail: [email protected]

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living standards of poor and rich, due to social and moral inequalities. A substantial portion of this population, or perhaps more than half of the earth’s population, still lacks access to adequate sanitary facilities or is striving to improve them while ramping up environmental protection and resource recovery (Velasco et al. 2022; Ahmed et al. 2023). Despite this, more than 1.7 billion people are living close to the river basins where water use exceeds recharge, while at least an estimated 1.8 billion people drink water that has been tainted by human waste coming from improper disposal and wastewater management without any pollution cleanup (Shamsudduha and Panda 2019). Clean and fresh water is a scarce natural resource, and the urgency of this issue is also highlighted in the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) (Capodaglio et al. 2017). SDG 6 is to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all or in short “Clean Water and Sanitation”. This SDG 6 aims to significantly increase recycling and safe reuse while reducing the quantity of untreated wastewater generated globally, by 2030 (Chitonge et al. 2020). Access to adequate and equitable sanitation and hygiene for everyone is required by targets 6.3 and 6.4. However, in many developing countries, wastewater treatment is not a top priority when compared to the development of other types of infrastructure, such as electric and communication systems. Consequently, many towns (and even larger cities) in developing countries lack operational and efficient wastewater treatment facilities (Sadoff et al. 2020). The present modern centralized collection and treatment system requires a lot of capital investment to setup and function, along with the cost of highly trained labor to handle it (Lopes et al. 2020). However, contrary to the construction of other infrastructure types, such as power and communication infrastructures, modern centralized wastewater treatment is not typically given high priority in developing and least developed nations (Ahmed et  al. 2023; Gallego-Schmid and Tarpani 2019). This does not seem to be a practical approach in countries other than those that are developed and can bear the installation and recurring direct and indirect costs of swift running of such faculties. As a result, there aren’t enough functional and effective wastewater treatment facilities in many small towns (and even bigger cities) in developing nations (Capodaglio et al. 2016). Considering the economic and social situation in emerging and least developed nations, eco-innovation is essential for minimizing the environmental impact and improving the sustainability in terms of the economy, environment, and society (Gente and Pattanaro 2019). One option to counter this issue is to setup decentralized wastewater management facilities utilizing nature-based systems (NbS). The NbS uses plants, soil, bacteria, fungi, algae, and other natural components and processes to remove contaminants from wastewater, reducing the need for chemicals and increasing efficiency (Capodaglio et  al. 2016). These techniques offer the potential to treat wastewater in a way that is environmentally friendly, affordable, sustainable, low-impact, and long-lasting (Lopes et al. 2020; Gallego-Schmid and Tarpani 2019).

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11.2 What Is a Nature-based System, and How It Can Be Beneficial? The NbS is not a new concept for the management of wastewater. For centuries, globally communities have unintentionally assisted in the development of wetland by directly discharging wastewater to surface water. It led to nutrient accumulation followed by the vegetation emergence (Capodaglio et al. 2016). These NbS have historically performed the role of buffering zone that reduces the contaminant loads to receiving waters (Greenwalt et al. 2018). With the advent of modern technologies and industrialization, the population dynamics have changed which also modified the landscapes. The cities opted pollution control technologies (PCTs) to treat hefty amounts of wastewater (Capodaglio et  al. 2016; Gente and Pattanaro 2019). However, the adopted PCTs tend to be carried out as an “end of the pipe” solution. They use a mix of physical, chemical, and biological procedures and processes to remove particles, organic materials, and, where necessary, nutrients from wastewater to prevent the polluting of aquatic bodies downstream (Ahmed et al. 2021). A comparative benefit of NbS with modern PCTs for wastewater treatment is that both can improve water quality, however the other benefits of NbS are beyond this. The NbS supports social co-benefits such as leisure areas and recreational well-being through green spaces, enhanced urban microclimates, flood and storm peak reduction, biomass generation, and water reuse. It also contributes to the maintenance and expansion of local and migrant biodiversity (Khan et al. 2021a). Further, they can be decentralized. These benefits are unachievable by any modern PCTs.

11.3 Decentralized NbS: The Treatment of Urban Water and Wastewater of Off-grid Settings Urban water refers to all the water that occurs in the urban environment (including rainwater, portable water, domestic wastewater, stormwater, and others) (Capodaglio et  al. 2016). The composition and the amount of treatment needed in each case would be different like for rainwater and stormwater; a proper collection and then flooding of wetland areas grown on a perforation-based media requires no to limited pretreated, however the domestic wastewater (DW) composition varies significantly and hence there are a number of options that can be opted based on the pollution load (Fernández del Castillo et al. 2022). The examples of decentralized NbS are presented in the later section; however, first it is important to know why the traditional PCTs aren’t a very good option in the context of developing countries, especially for off-grid settings. In conventional modern PCTs, the DW discharge from different households is needed to be combined and channeled toward the centralized DW treatment facility, located far from the wastewater generation source (Kataki et al. 2021). The collection, channeling, streaming, and treatment required a lot of pumping and

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establishment of civil engineering works and installation (including piping for sewage collection and manhole junctions). Further, they must be operated at certain pressure and flow rate depending on the piping system. It can also induce wear and tear, requiring a periodic inspection and maintenance every 50–60 years (Libralato et al. 2012). On the other hand, using the decentralized systems the needs of such installation can be gradually met, as these off-grid systems respond well in residential, suburbs, countryside, commercial, and industrial area, where the population is scattered (Kataki et al. 2021; Capodaglio 2017). According to estimates, the decentralized system can manage wastewater treatment with just around 20% of the existing drinking water demand, through the implementation of source control management and differential water utilization. These decentralized NbS (dNbS) can also be very effective in the metropolis large block redevelopment as the on-site treatment and wastewater reuse reduces the stress of extra wastewater discharge into the standing sewerage system, possibly preventing the sanitation services disruption during peak load times (Chen et al. 2021). The dNbS has the benefit of being flexible, small, and less obtrusive; nevertheless, other regional influences (such as traffic, smells, and noise) must be weighed (Chen et al. 2021; Vymaza 2022). Based on these arguments, wastewater management using dNbS in the communities in rural or peri-urban settings is ideal in relation to developing and least developed nations. The dNbS are more reasonable to deploy since the standard treatment infrastructure will add to the population’s already unsustainable long-term debt load in distant (low-income) regions and necessitate future upgrades when demand rises because of population growth. One noticeable development is the progressive loss of the idea of densely populated communities in cities all over the world widening to include the countryside (Hu et al. 2020). Thus, decentralization is much more prevalent in areas, where constructing a centralized effluent collecting infrastructure is not deemed to be financially sustainable.

11.4 Sustainability of Decentralized Nature-based Solution As most of the off-grid communities in remote areas are clustered in small numbers, the decentralized wastewater management using NbS will be ideal. By the NbS treating comparatively small quantities of wastewater is possible, generated from such communities (located no less than 3–5  km away) (Libralato et  al. 2012; Capodaglio 2017). While it is true that a local collection infrastructure will still be required, it will be much cheaper and smaller than any of those required for standard, centralized treatment (Fernández del Castillo et al. 2022). Such system takes into account the local ecology, hydrology, and landscape factors (including elevation, precipitation rate, vegetation, and soil composition) (Afzal et al. 2019; Khan et al. 2020). The dNbS-based hygiene and sanitation is also sustainable as it promotes the 7-R concept, i.e., Refuse, Recycle, Reuse, Reduce, Repurpose, Recover, and Rot for the natural resources (Çimen 2023). With dNbS, the unnecessary installation of civil work, need of energy, and use of chemicals for centralized treatment

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are either refused or reduced. The wastewater (treated or non-treated) is dumped in the ocean, reused, and recycled locally in irrigation of constructed wetlands. The dNbS site serves as a place harboring biodiversity, hence brownfield can be repurposed recreationally. Further, with dNbS it is also possible to recover bioenergy (through the transformation of organic materials) and rotting of organic compostable residues containing macro and micronutrients to release nutrients naturally. Hence, the dNbS aids efficient resource utilization and the close loop development consistent with the concept of circular economy. One of the SDGs is health goal (SDG 3) which says, “ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for all at all ages”. The dNbS safeguard toward prevention of diseases and promotion of health (by assuring a clean management of wastewater upstream of water bodies and restraining the disease spread downstream the waterbody) and maintain a healthy balance of water quality and ecosystem (through the prevention of excessive pollutants discharge) (van den Bosch and Sang 2017). As discussed earlier, even the dNbS needs collection and transportation of wastewater to the adopted NbS. Section 11.4.1 discusses the details related to the collection and transportation of wastewater for an adopted dNbS. These adopted NbS can be either individually or combination constructed wetland (CW), membrane biological reactors (MBR), and anaerobic reactors (AR). Section 11.4.2 contains details related to applicability and design of the dNbS design.

11.4.1 Sustainable Collection and Transportation of Wastewater The traditional wastewater collection system is known to induce a negative impact on the environment and economy at local and global scales (Pasciucco et al. 2022). Building the centralized sewage collection infrastructure itself generates a huge environmental impact during excavation, installation, and operation (Libralato et al. 2012). Hence, it is very important to consider the development and maintenance of sewage systems when the comparison is made between centralized and decentralized wastewater system solutions. Conventional wastewater management relies heavily on high water usage and waste dilution, which is surely a big issue increasing the burden of additional treatment cost (Capodaglio 2020). The collection system requires a significant amount of tap water just to flush the system and transport the primary waste. This problem can be managed using source control and differentiation of wastewater, and then transportation to the dNbS as they require less amount of water for proper functioning (50–60% less than the current water demand for conventional wastewater treatment systems) (Oral et al. 2020). It results in less use of wastage of drinking quality water. Further, the operation of conventional systems is highly dependent on uninterrupted power supply for pumping and operation activity, which makes the application of these systems vulnerable and non-resilient, during events

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and power failures (Kataki et al. 2021; Libralato et al. 2012). This is not a hidden fact that in developing and least developed nation, the economic conditions and unavailability of surplus money to import oil have been severe issues in the management and supply of electricity (Khan et al. 2019; Qurban et al. 2021). A few prime examples of such conditions that were very well-known included the Sri Lankan economic crisis in 2022, reputative economic bailout packages of Pakistan, national-level electricity grid failure in October 2022 affecting up to 80% in Bangladesh, lack of electricity access for more than half of Nigeria, War torn conditions of Yemen, Ukraine, or Syria, social and civil equality in and against nations like Somalia, Palestine, and Colombia (Murshed et al. 2020; Ahmed and Abbas 2023; Jayasinghe 2023). Additionally, even assuming that there is a well-­ designed centralized wastewater collection system for both wastewater and storm runoff, combined sewage systems are nevertheless typically employed in the actual world (especially in urban areas) (Capodaglio 2017). 11.4.1.1 Economical and Sustainable Practices for Domestic Wastewater Collection A well-known fact is that solid waste can be managed well if it is segregated into at source. It is due to this reason in most of the developed nation the solid waste is segregated into organic, inorganic, recyclables, and hazardous wastes (Cheah et al. 2022). It implies to the same to the wastewater. The domestic wastewater is usually collected as a homogenous sanitary sewage. Different kinds of effluents can be segregated, which can help with on-site or off-site processing for resource recovery and recycling (Liu et al. 2022). Although this idea is widely accepted and discussed for the sustainable management of the carbon, nutrient, energy, and water cycles, there is still a lot of opposition to its widespread implementation (Capodaglio 2017). Notable reason is that the reintroduction of NbS in already well-working wastewater management facilities will be highly difficult due to unavailability of space, or just general resistance to change or ill education/awareness at the governmental policy and planning level. The source separation will help prevent waste dilution and unnecessary cost-­ related burden. The reason behind this is that this will ultimately lower the energy demand for the collection and treatment, further the nutrients recovery is more efficient in concentrated form, making black water an ideal stream of wastewater for recovery. Report suggested that even precious metals like gold can be recovered from concentrated biosolid sludge obtained from sewage sludge (AlKetbi et  al. 2018). Another advantage of source segregation and collection of concentrated wastewaters is that the human pathogens, micropollutants, pharmaceuticals, and cosmetic products are mostly contained in blackwater, therefore much more feasible to a biohazardous waste stream, with limited to no external contamination (Cheah et al. 2022; Liu et al. 2022). Source separation also allows for maintaining the treatment ratio (anaerobic to aerobic, generation of bioenergy). With source separation, as the volume to be treated is already reduced, there will be less primary

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Fig. 11.1  Comparison between conventional treatment and source separation followed by NbS-­ based treatment. (Source Separation and Segregation of Wastewater Streams)

input needed with minimal sludge generation (Shen et al. 2020). In general, domestic wastewater can be segregated into blackwater (collectively wastewater from toilet and kitchen), and less concentrated gray water from various washing activities (Fig. 11.1). The black water from toilet can be further segregated as yellow water (urine) and brown water (feces). However, in the case of developing countries, the segregation of black water is not practical as usually the houses are not constructed with separate urinals. However, the bath water can be segregated easily with little modification in the plumbing works. In most cases concentrated black water is treated using ARs or AR + CW (Fernández del Castillo et al. 2022; Kataki et al. 2021). In Muslim countries, the ablution water from mosques can also be separated, as it is generated plainly by body cleansing, without any added impurities, and hence can easily be managed in constructed wetlands without any pre-treatment (Fuchs et al. 2020). Similarly, the gray water contains relatively low levels of pathogen in comparison to the effluent of the standard wastewater treatment plant. It can also be used as an alternate water source with minimal treatment; however, if the concentration of nutrients, personal care products (detergent, soap, and oil), house dust, kitchen waste (grease and fats), or organic and inorganic contaminants are in higher levels, a minor onsite processing can make it recycled. The energy and cost saving due to source separation and segregation is a well-demonstrated face. With the introduction of source separation only for yellow water in a centralized sanitation system, the energy demand per year is reduced by ~25%, while the separation of black water, kitchen refuse, and gray water can lead up to 32% reduction in the primary energy consumption (Tervahauta et al. 2014).

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11.4.1.2 Pre-treatment of Wastewater The streams of wastewater, even after segregation, have numerous contaminants. These can cause the upset of the processing system by grease-induced clogging or generate foul odors. A simple pre-treatment, like stagnation – reducing the flow rate of wastewater, can significantly help in the removal of suspended solids and skim off the grease. In the context of off-grid areas, a common basic septic tank is a simple and appropriate option for managing the initial gray water pretreatment (Capodaglio 2017). Then, sophisticated oxidation, coagulation, extensive or intense biological systems, and membrane or sand filtration can all be used. The biological oxygen demand (BOD) can be reduced greater than 90% by utilizing the pretreatment, and the treated recycled water can be used for charging the aquifer, ornamental gardening and landscaping, or toilet flushing (He et al. 2022). Another treatment that can be used to lower the levels of gray water generation is to improve water usage efficiently which can be achieved by adopting low-flush devices particularly made to decrease the amount of water used for low-flow lavatories and sewage solids mobilization (from 6–12 L flush−1 down to 0.8–2 L flush−1) (Kim et al. 2022). Through this, the biological and chemical oxygen demand can be increased significantly. Due to the possibility of human biohazard, the recycled wastewater should not be used for the irrigation of the edible crops, without confirming the absence of any bio-hazardous microorganism in the treated wastewater.

11.4.2 Sustainable Design for dNbS Despite the popularity of conventional wastewater treatment systems in the off-grid areas of developing countries situations, including traditional septic tanks, Imhoff tanks, lagoon systems, and small activated sludge (AS)-based plants, various process technologies are being devised with decentralized systems in mind (Libralato et al. 2012; Fuchs et al. 2020). In recent years the focus on using the natural systems’ ecological service was investigated, in great depth. A few natural-based systems including the use of constructed wetlands, membrane biological reactors, and anaerobic reactors have shown promising results for application (Fernández del Castillo et al. 2022). It is not based on the proposal or expostulation, these NbS have proven robust and sturdy for the application in wastewater treatment, at both domestic and industrial scales (Vymaza 2022). However, in this chapter, the discussion will solely be focused on the use of these NbS for urban wastewater management. As discussed earlier the successful execution of these systems, they are highly dependent on some parameters, the dNbS would be influenced by the location’s climate, wastewater composition, land area needed for the treatment, geography, and local recycle/reuse requirements (Khan et al. 2016, 2021b; Iqbal et al. 2020; Raza et al. 2019). In general, to make a dNbS stand out from the conventional wastewater treatment system, the natural technology should demonstrate specific treatment efficiency under

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provided local conditions, less laborious with minimal operational and maintenance needs, sustainable, capable of expanding, and economical. 11.4.2.1 Constructed Wetland Among the most proposed alternate treatment systems, the constructed wetlands (CWs) receive also attention around the world as candidate decentralized systems (Silveira et al. 2020). These are the manmade natural systems that were well suited for managing the remediation of municipal, rural, and industrial effluent due to design diversity and functional capacity. In the simplest manner they can be a pond (containing algae, fungi, and bacteria) for the removal of contaminates, while in more advance system they are built utilizing plant and substrate capable to facilitate water filtration, percolations, and cleaning (Kataki et  al. 2021). The different basic designs and setup in which the constructed wetland can operate are presented in Fig. 11.2. The designs in which a constructed wetland operates are generally categorized as free water surface flow and subsurface flow systems. Additionally, subsurface-flow constructed wetland (SSF-CW) can either be characterized as free water flow (FW-CW), horizontal flow (HF-CW), vertical flow (VF-CW), or a hybrid (multi-stage) system (H-CW) (Fernández del Castillo et al. 2022). The choice of CW system to be adopted highly depends on the type of wastewater treatment needed. For instance, free-water surface constructed wetlands (FWS-­ CWs) are ideal for the partial treatment or for the polishing of the treated wastewater, for the management of stormwater, and agricultural runoff management can cause lake pollution (Parihar et al. 2022). FWS-CWs can be characterized by the macrophyte (floating, submerged, or emergent) used in the system. The FWS-CW are more suitable for warmer climates. A typical FWS CW consists of a shallow basin constructed of soil or other media to support the roots of vegetation (when rooting macrophytes are used) and a water control structure that maintains a shallow depth of water (Fig. 11.2a). The most common type of SSF-CW is HF-CW; in these systems, water travels horizontally from the entry to the exit, typically through anaerobic and anoxic microenvironments. The roots of the macrophyte provide the aerobic condition due to which the soil only near the root is oxygenated. In the anoxic and anaerobic zone, denitrification occurs, while nitrification is limited due to low oxygenation (Gorgoglione and Torretta 2018). As wastewater trickles through soil/filtering media the suspended particles in wastewater are removed, hence the efficiency is higher. The filtering media also tends to remove phosphorus removal by sorption (Shen et al. 2020). Due to the intermittent pumping, the VF-CW requires comparatively more complicated operation and maintenance than the HF-CW.  The VF-CW are typically designed to enhance the system’s capacity to absorb air oxygen, permitting it to effectively carry out nitrification (Kataki et al. 2021). The VF-CW are highly effective for the degradation of organic matter and suspended and dissolved solids removal. In a hybrid-constructed wetland, two or more single-stage CW setups are

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Fig. 11.2  Basic design types of constructed wetlands used for wastewater treatment. The base of CWs has a slope (~1%) to promote the flow and water mobility. (a) Free water low CW, (b) Horizontal flow CW, and (c) Vertical flow CW

combined to efficiently remove N and other contaminants in wastewater by fostering both aerobic and anaerobic conditions (Vymaza 2022). Commonly a VF-CW linked with an HF-CW configuration is used in H-CW. These systems induce the nitrification of NH4 in the VF-CW, due to aerobic conditions, and the subsequent raise of denitrification in the HF-CW, which results in complete N. Overall, when compared with single-stage CW, the H-CW shows a superior removal rate for all the parameters (Gorgoglione and Torretta 2018). The percentage removal efficacies range of different CWs based on the published literature are presented in Table 11.1 (Fernández del Castillo et al. 2022).

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Table 11.1  Percentage removal efficacies range of different CWs (Fernández del Castillo et al. 2022) Parameter Biological oxygen demand Chemical oxygen demand Total suspended solids Ammonia Total nitrogen Phosphorous

FS-CWa 45 ± 23 48 ± 33 60 ± 23 56 ± 20 38 ± 16 34 ± 16

HF-CWa 62 ± 20 61 ± 24 66 ± 22 38 ± 16 43 ± 18 33 ± 23

VF-CWa 70 ± 17 66 ± 17 67 ± 23 51 ± 18 50 ± 16 37 ± 18

H-CFa 84 ± 15 78 ± 15 83 ± 19 83 ± 12 70 ± 19 61 ± 26

FS-CW free water flow constructed wetland, HF-CW horizontal flow constructed wetland, VF-CW vertical flow constructed wetland, and H-CW hybrid (multi-stage) constructed wetland

a

11.4.2.2 Membrane Biological Reactors The MBR system effectively removes organic and inorganic contaminants from home and/or industrial wastewaters by combining biological degradation of wastewater pollutants with membrane filtration (Capodaglio 2017). It has emerged as a reliable, more portable substitute for conventional bioreactors. The filtration layers (1 μm pore size each) eliminate the requirement for wastewater gravitational clearance that was a key treatment bottleneck causing aerobic wastewater treatment system failures (Fernández del Castillo et al. 2022; Fuchs et al. 2020). The membrane filtration in the MBRs enables higher biomass retention, which therefore reduces the amount of continuous aeration required for the growth of useful biodegraders, and decreases the space requirement, compared to settling and sedimentation tanks. However, periodic backwashing is needed to prevent the choking of the membrane used for filtration (Rahul Krishna et al. 2022). These membranes can be flat sheets and hollow tubes of fiber, ceramics, or fabric. In general, MBR systems used to treat domestic wastewater would result in an effluent that had non-detectable total suspended solids (TSS), BOD