Water Management and Waste Classification for Sustainable Planning

Water Management: Hydrological Planning

Water planning

Water planning is intended for the management of water use, increasing efficiency and providing technical solutions when no other means can respond to demands.

General measures

• In the agricultural sector
  • Improvement of water management practices
  • Pulse irrigation
  • Change in irrigation systems (such as drip irrigation)
  • Reuse of treated wastewater for irrigation
• Industry
  • Recycling of water used in cooling
  • Reuse within industrial processes
  • Avoiding losses in distribution pipes
• Urban consumption
  • Low-power facilities
  • Adoption of water pricing
  • Implementation of xerophytic landscaping
  • Urban planning measures
  • Reuse of domestic wastewater
  • Environmental education

Technical solutions

• Reservoirs
• Water transfers
• Action on river courses
• Desalination of seawater or brackish water
• Control of aquifer exploitation

Political solutions

• Laws governing water consumption
• United Nations Water Conference (Mar del Plata, 1977)
• United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Rio de Janeiro)

Water planning in Spain

• River basin plans
• National Hydrological Plan

Waste definitions and categories

Byproduct is a waste material that is useful as a substitute for raw material and whose reuse does not require significant treatment.

Residue is any material resulting from manufacturing, processing, use, consumption, or cleaning, when the holder or producer intends to abandon it.

Municipal solid waste, referred to as municipal waste in the new Waste Act, is generated by activities in urban areas or zones of influence, i.e., in private homes, shops, offices, and service establishments.

Medical waste is generated by health activities in hospitals, clinics, primary care centers, laboratories, and pharmaceutical facilities.

Industrial waste includes inert materials or wastes treated as municipal waste, as well as toxic, hazardous, or radioactive wastes generated by industrial activity.

Radioactive waste is considered (RR) any material or waste product containing or contaminated with radioactive nuclides at concentrations or activity levels above those established by the competent authorities and for which no further authorized use exists.