Land Application of Sewage Sludge: Physicochemical and Microbial Response

As a result of rapid urbanization, industrialization, and uncontrolled population increase, waste management has become a worldwide problem. In the 2001 census, the urban population of India comprised 285 millions, which accounted for 27% of the total population of the country. The share of urban population has increased from 19.9% in the year 1971 to 27.8% in the year 2001 (Vaidya 2009). The decadal growth from 1991 to 2001 of the urban population was 31.2%. One of the main reasons for increasing urbanization is the migration of rural populations to urban centers for employment. The unprecedented growth of this urban population has put tremendous pressure on the quality of life regarding housing, water, and power supply, and water, air, and soil quality deterioration. A decline in environmental quality from waste generation in these urban centers, especially solid waste, is of major and growing concern. © 2011 Springer Science+Business Media, LLC.