Abstract:
Water quality in any outward appearance is significant as it help to conserve and restore
the quality of the surface waters and ground waters as well. Standards help to recognize
water quality problems caused by, for instance, inappropriately treated wastewater
discharges, runoff or discharges from active or deserted mining sites, sediment, fertilizers,
and chemicals from agricultural areas, and erosion of stream banks caused by reprehensible
grazing practices. Standards also support efforts to achieve and maintain protective water
quality conditions. Water quality sustains ecological processes that support native fish
populations, vegetation, wetlands and bird life. Similarly, many of our own uses depend on
water quality that is suitable for irrigation, watering stock, drinking, fishing and recreation,
and to meet cultural and spiritual needs. Scientific contributions and science based
investigation will be critical for understanding water-use behavior and for devising
effective institutions to manage water in times of increasing scarcity. Considerable
investments in the construction of infrastructure may be economically infeasible for
developing countries. In these circumstances, small-scale, decentralized technologies are
very important. Hydroponics is one of the main alternatives for water based agriculture and
plays a critical role in terms of water resource management. It is a promising start-up to
introduce water management and water reuse systems in any level. Small scale domestic
hydroponics system based practices are increasing among the environmentally concerned
nations. Conversely, Sri Lanka as an affluent country of water resources is somewhere
lacking the perspective of this theory as a way to conserve water and also as a source of
income. This research was carried out in order to investigate domestic water consumption
and the management of domestic wastewater in a profitable way. An experimental setup
was made for conducting the study to investigate the effects of application of domestic
wastewater connected to a hydroponics system. The system could be easily utilized in urban
areas especially in urban compartments. It is suitable for small villages and single house
systems as a decentralized wastewater management option. The system could be adapted
to the local conditions of the rural areas as well. The study showed that it will be possible
to achieve high efficiency by using wastewater with utilized step-wise horizontal flow
hydroponic systems. These systems could be operated as full treatment systems for
wastewater. The quantitative data showed a correlation between the values of water bill
expenditure and income generated from wastewater.
