Nature independently cleans the Earth from 41.7 million tons of human waste per year

Wastewater treatment infrastructure that turns human feces into harmless products,

is an important tool for globalhuman health. However, in 2017, more than 25% of the world's population did not have access to basic sanitation, and another 14% used toilets that disposed household waste on site. Although some of this waste is hazardous to local communities, previous studies have shown that natural wetlands and mangroves, for example, are effective in cleaning them up.

Navikubo swamps in Uganda are treated untreatedwastewater from more than 100,000 households, protecting Murchison Bay and Lake Victoria from harmful pollutants. Coastal wetlands in the US Gulf of Mexico are removing nitrogen from the Mississippi River.

To better understand how natural ecosystemsrecycle waste, scientists from the universities of Bangor, Cranfield, Durham, Gloucestershire, Hyderabad (India) and the Center for Freshwater Research (South Asia), quantified sanitation ecosystem services in 48 cities, home to about 82 million people. It is estimated that 2.2 million cubic meters of human waste per year are processed naturally in these areas. Extrapolating from the data, scientists concluded that nature disinfects about 41.7 million tons of human waste per year before it enters groundwater.

Scientists' findings shed light on an important butan often unrecognized contribution that nature makes to the daily lives of many people. The authors hope that it will inspire the public and policymakers to more actively protect important ecosystems such as wetlands.

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