Treated wastewater as a sustainable alternative to concrete manufacturing: a literature review on its performance

The depletion of water resources is an increasing global concern. Thus, searching for alternatives to replace drinking water whenever possible is a necessity. Water is a vital resource for many daily activities, especially in the construction industry, and its use is essential in concrete manufacturing and curing operations. Therefore, with the increase in wastewater generation and the need for environmentally friendly concrete industry, treated wastewater emerges as an alternative water source to supply these industry's demands. During the past decades, some authors have been developing research on using treated wastewater for concrete manufacturing. However, despite the environmental relevance of this theme, research on the topic is rarely applied on general engineering practice, while there are still few literature reviews on the effects of treated wastewater on concrete physical and mechanical properties. Thus, the present paper reviewed international standards' water quality requirements for concrete manufacturing and studies that evaluated treated wastewater's influence over properties such as setting time, workability, compressive strength, tensile strength, flexural strength, water absorption, and density. Although the majority of the authors agreed that wastewater caused limited detrimental effects on physical and mechanical properties, the reductions were less significant wherein the effluent was submitted to proper treatment and mostly remained below the limits accepted by the standards for concrete made with alternative water.