Sewage Sludge Management for Environmental Sustainability: An Introduction

Abstract

The environmentally sound management of the increasing amounts of sewage sludges generated in urban centers is one of the greatest challenges of modern society. It is estimated more than half of the world’s population will be concentrated in urban areas by 2050. Sewage sludges contain organic matter and nutrients that can be reused in agriculture, but the public is concerned about its potential to contaminate natural ecosystems spreading hazardous trace elements, toxic organic pollutants, and pathogens to the environment. In this chapter, a broad approach on sewage sludge generation as well as modern treatments, disposal strategies, and adequate management practices at a global level will be addressed to properly educate the public population concerned with the use of this residue and to introduce the book contents. Currently, SSs are mostly landfilled or amended to soils, but they can also be incinerated or used in construction. Therefore, an overview of SS treatments, reuse, and disposal strategies is fundamental to guaranteed maintenance of ecosystem sustainability. Sewage sludge land application and its chemical and microbiological composition, as well as legislation, risk assessment, and methodological aspects related to its characterization, will also be addressed in this book trying to show their advantages and disadvantages. As would be expected, it will allow to review current science on sewage sludge management and to assure environmental sustainability.