ENVIRONMENTAL ASPECTS OF DOMESTIC AND INDUSTRIAL WATER USE

This chapter appraises the range of methods employed to provide water for domestic and industrial water use and to dispose of their wastes. It considers the effects that each method has on the related ecosystem, and looks ahead toward improved means of coordinating domestic, industrial, and aquatic environmental management.

The focus is on intersections among domestic, industrial, and environmental water management, which may be outlined as follows:

1. (1) environmental quality, protection, and treatment of source waters for domestic and industrial use;

2. (2) environmental effects of domestic and industrial withdrawals (e.g., stream and aquifer depletion), taking into account the different effects of consumptive and non-consumptive uses;

3. (3) environmental effects of domestic and industrial waste discharges (pollution);

4. (4) environmental value of non-consumptive use reuse, and harmonization of domestic, industrial, and environmental water management.

The first step in addressing these themes is to survey the current range of domestic and industrial water uses, followed by illustrative case studies in the USA and Africa.

Definitions and data problems

Although often grouped together under the heading of municipal and industrial water use, the types, scales, and effects of these non-agricultural uses vary enormously. Domestic water use includes rural as well as municipal users. It refers to uses most immediately associated with basic human needs for drinking, bathing, and washing – and associated household uses for irrigating gardens, washing vehicles, and providing for animals.