With global water demand predicted to exceed viable resources by 40% by 2030, traditional and inefficient approaches to water consumption need to be reconsidered and new strategies adopted to enable this vital resource to be reused as much as possible, and to achieve efficient standards for water management.

At forums such as World Water Week 2014 organised by the Stockholm International Water Institute, leading international experts have debated the need for a paradigm shift in water consumption: from a linear economy to a circular economy, i.e. an economy that is by definition restorative and regenerative.

There is a clear need for a "paradigm shift" in the water sector - moving from traditional linear patterns of water consumption ("take, make, reject") to a circular economy approach in which wastewater is no longer seen as waste, but as a valuable resource in the context of water scarcity. Since water is the world's scarcest resource, and there is an abundance of wastewater, wastewater reuse is inevitable.