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The article focuses on the reuse of treated urban wastewater and its challenges and opportunities addressed by the European Union (EU)-COST Action ES1403 (NEREUS). Topics include the commitment of the COST Action to provide insight on the challenges of wastewater reuse practice, the objectives of the five working groups (WGs), and the potential impact of the NEREUS.

The International Water Research Alliance Saxony (IWAS) is addressing the global challenges concerning water quality in the areas of drinking water and sanitation, agricultural irrigation and the quality of surface and ground waters, as well as developing specific ecosystem-relevant services to be implemented on an exemplary basis in selected model regions. Locations (model regions) have been selected in Eastern Europe (R1), Central and Southeast Asia (R2 and R3), the Middle East (R4) and Latin America (R5) that are representative international regions with respect to climate, land use and demographic change (Ibisch et al., Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Department of Aquatic Ecosystem analysis and management, ). The causes of water problems and the relevant boundary conditions vary from region to region (Borchardt and Ibisch, Integrated water resources management in a changing world : lessons learnt and innovative perspectives, pp 225, ). Mongolia and Vietnam were selected model regions in the first IWAS phase; the research was transferred and continued in one of the cross-cutting projects in IWAS II (Vietnam → capacity development) or in the frame of related project activities in Central Asia (R2 Mongolia, Karthe et al., Environ Earth Sci, doi:, ). The IWAS consortium exists on scientific institutions like the Technische Universität Dresden and the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research-UFZ, Leipzig, as well as partners from industry like the Stadtentwässerung Dresden GmbH (SE-DD), DREBERIS-Dresden consulting for international strategies, and itwh-institute for technical-scientific Hydrology, Hanover. This thematic issue compiles the most important scientific results of the second phase of the IWAS project. The project itself and findings of the first phase were already introduced in a previous special issue by Kalbus et al. (Environ Earth Sci 65:1363-1366, ). Main results: The IWAS project is structured by the model regions (R) as well as by cross-cutting activities scenario analysis (Q1), technology development (Q2), governance (Q3) and capacity development (Q4). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A pronounced pollution of surface water bodies in the Western Bug River Basin, Ukraine, has been caused by outdated or overloaded wastewater treatment plants, agriculture, industry and coal mining. These pressures have led to a generally poor state of both chemical and microbiological variables creating health risks of various kinds. The state of surface water quality for the Western Bug and five main tributaries was assessed by measuring physical, chemical and microbiological indicators during field campaigns in autumn 2009 and spring 2010. Longitudinal profiles were sampled to identify major sources of pollution and to reveal dominant processes of matter turnover. In addition, the occurrence of antibiotic resistant strains in isolates from stations along the Bug River was investigated. Results clearly underpin the negative impact of the Poltva River as a major source of pollution for the Bug River and further outline an elevated potential health risk from pathogenic bacteria originating from this source. Despite these devastating impacts, a high elimination potential of the Bug River with respect to primary organic loads as well as elimination of pathogenic bacteria was observed particularly at Dobrotvir Reservoir. Further downstream, pollution is kept high because of untreated waste effluents and phytoplankton mass developments due to high phosphorus concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]