MUNICIPAL WASTEWATER REUSE IN ARID REGIONS - SCOPE FOR IRRIGATION IN MADURAI CITY

As water can neither be created nor destroyed, more than 80% of quantity of water used for domestic purposes appear as wastewater. Increasing water demand due to growing population coupled with human related activities against the constant water resources solicits attention of the water managers to think of wastewater as a source o f water across the world. Wastewater deserves recognition as a source of irrigation water in different countries around the world. India becomes water stress with the per capita available water dropping down below 2000 cubic metreper head per year. Uneven distribution of water resources from north to south makes water crisis severe in the states like Tamil Nadu. Available water is share d by different sectors and stiff competition between sector viz: drinking and irrigation prevails. In India, the total wastewater generation from the urban towns has been assessed as 38474 MLD.