Water reuse and Tourism
Mini report prepared by LGI Consulting in the framework of demEAUmed project. November 2016 Water supply will be an important issue for decades to come. Increasing water consumption due to global trends such as urbanisation, demographic growth and ageing populations will lead, if not regulated, controlled or reused, to more wastewater production and is expected to threaten the environment with a diminution of available water sources, a situation exacerbated by droughts intensified by climate change. Wastewater will have to be treated to avoid environmental pollution and sanitary problems, but can also represent an important and promising source of water, with regards to the expected severe water scarcities worldwide, like the Euro-Mediterranean region.From a business point of view, the wastewater market is therefore extremely interesting and is already currently fast growing, a growth boosted by new legislations in the domain of wastewater and water reuse in several countries and at international level. In this context, tourism is an important actor as it impacts water resources in several ways.This mini report analyses the global water recycling and reuse challenges and links them with particular conditions of the tourist sector and the MEDA region.