ECOPERSIA

ECOPERSIA

Sustainable Closed-Loop Reuse of High-Load Ablution Greywater via Optimized Multi-Stage Filtration in Ramadi, Iraq

Document Type : Original Article

Authors
Hala Arshad Ali 1
FARHAN MOHAMMAD JASIM 2
Dina T. Hammody 3
haneen shartoh Sharqi 3
Muthana Badeea Farhan 4
1 University of Anbar \ Upper Euphrates center for sustainable Development Research1
2 University of Anbar, College of Agriculture, Iraq.
3 University of Anbar \ Upper Euphrates center for sustainable Development Research
4 University of Anbar
10.48311/ecopersia.2026.120335.82897
Abstract
Aims: To design and test a sustainable system that supplies water to the mosque area through the use of low-cost multi-stage filtration of mosque ablution greywater, which would alleviate water scarcity problems and minimize environmental impacts on municipal wastewater systems in the Ramadi City arid ecosystem.
Materials & Methods: A treatment system consisting of four cylindrical filters has been designed and installed for the ablution water at Al-Adel Omar bin Abdul Aziz Mosque with a capacity of 2000 L.d-1. The system consists of a single sequential four-stage filtration train: F1→F2→F3→F4, with a sand-gravel filter (F1) followed by an activated Carbon-gravel filter (F3), then a sand-gravel filter (F2) followed by an activated Carbon-gravel filter (F4). Three treatment stages were analyzed for water quality factors such as turbidity, electrical conductivity EC, total dissolved solids TDS, pH, biological oxygen demand BOD₅, chemical oxygen demand COD, major ions, and total bacterial count TBC using standard water quality testing methods.
Findings: All critical factors were significantly reduced (p<0.01) such as the reduction of turbidity from 152 to 1.60 NTU (98.95% removal), BOD5 from 42.50 to 11.35 mg.L⁻¹ (73.3% removal), COD from 68.00 mg.L⁻¹to below the analytical detection limit (Conclusion:
The multi-stage filtration system, which treats the water of the mosque to the standards set for restricted irrigation and non-potable reuse, is a low-cost method that proved to be effective and that can be replicated in water-stressed Islamic regions to manage water resources.
Keywords
Ablution Water
Greywater Treatment
Mosque Wastewater
Multi-Media Filtration
Water Reuse
Sustainable Water Management
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)
Subjects
1.Velasco-Muñoz J.F., Aznar-Sánchez J.A., Belmonte-Ureña L.J., Roman-Sánchez I.M. Sustainable water use in agriculture: A review of worldwide research. Sustainability. 2018;10(4):1084. 
2. Makanda K.S., Kanyerere T. Assessing the role of water resources protection practice for sustainable water resources management: A review. Water. 2022;14(19):3153. 
3. Fathi E.A., Talebi A., Ekhtesasi M., Mosaffaie J., Akbari Z. Sustainability assessment of the Malekshahi Watershed based on ecological and socio-economic criteria in Iran. ECOPERSIA 2025;13(2):165-181. 
4. Davoudi D., Haghizadeh A., Tahmasebipour N., Zeinivand H. Spatial and temporal water quality analysis of a semi-arid river for drinking and irrigation purposes using water quality indices and GIS. ECOPERSIA 2021;9(2):79-93. 
5. Tagar S., Qambrani N.A. A Review on Treatment Methods, Recycling, and Reuse of Ablution Greywater for Sustainable Water Resource Management. Water Conserv. Sci. Eng. 2025;10(1):36. 
6. Khajvand M., Mostafazadeh A., Drogui P., Tyagi R.D. Management of grey water: environmental impact, treatment, resource recovery, water recycling, and decentralization. Water Sci.Technol. 2022;86(5):909-937. 
7. Ameer S., Muhammad N., Jadoon K.Z., Sheikh N., Rahman K.U. A systematic literature review on potential of ablution grey water reuse: current insights, challenges, and future prospects. Appl. Water Sci. 2025;15(7):173. 
8. Seider V., Gallardo-Bustos C., Vargas I.T. Multidimensional assessment of (bio) electrochemical GAC-packed bed filters for laundry grey water treatment. J. Water Process. Eng. 2025;77:108514. 
9. Tabidi M.M., Khan S.A. Recycling of the Greywater from Mosques in Oman. Ecol. Environ. Conserv. 2022;28(1):558-567. 
10. Aliyari M. Biological Treatment of Greywater: Sustainable Solutions for Addressing Climate Change. Int. J. Mod. Achiev. Sci. Eng. Technol. 2025;2(3):169-176. 
11. Maliga I., Purwono S., Harini R., Harahap J., Djafar T. Evaluating the Sustainability of An MBR for Domestic Greywater Treatment in Small Islands. Environ. Chall. 2025; 14:101369. 
12. Hamidi M.N. Membrane bioreactor technology for grey water treatment: A review. Sep. Purif. Technol. 2025;361:131451. 
13. Budeli P., Sibali L.L. Greywater Reuse: Contaminant Profile, Health Implications, and Sustainable Solutions. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health. 2025;22(5):740. 
14. Anusha K., Prasanna K. Sustainable Greywater Management: A Comprehensive Review with Cost-Benefit Analysis. Water Conserv. Sci. Eng. 2025;10(3):132.
15. Pourkhabbaz H., Hedayatzadeh F., Cheraghi M. Determination of heavy metals concentration at water treatment sites in Ahwaz and Mollasani using bioindicator. ECOPERSIA 2018;6(1):55-66. 
16. Shaikh I.N., Ahammed M.M. Granular media filtration for on-site treatment of grey water: A review. Water Sci. Technol. 2022;86(5):992-1016. 
17. Vuppaladadiyam A.K., Antunes E., Sarmah A.K. Granular media and Carbon-based filtration configurations for decentralized grey water recycling: A global review of performance and sustainability thresholds. J. Environ. Manage. 2024;351:119720. 
18. Dawoud M.A., Ewea H.A., Alaswad S.O. The future of wastewater treatment and reuse in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Desalinat. Water Treat. 2022;263(1):127-138. 
19. Bridgewater L.L. Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater. American Public Health Association 2017; 23rd Edition: 1500-1550. 
20. Alin A. Wiley interdisciplinary reviews: computational statistics. WIREs Comput. Stat. 2010;2(6):723-727. 
21. Okoye K., Hosseini S. Analysis of variance (ANOVA) in R: one-way and two-way ANOVA, in R programming: statistical data analysis in research. Springer. 2024;1(4):187-209. 
22. Ayers R.S., Westcot D.W. Water quality for agriculture. FAO Irrigation and Drainage Paper 1985;29(1):1-100. 
23. Barceló D. Environmental Protection Agency and other methods for the determination of priority pesticides and their transformation products in water. J. Chromatogr. A 1993; 643(1-2):117-143
24. Weber C.I. Methods for measuring the acute toxicity of effluents and receiving waters to freshwater and marine organisms. US EPA Report 1991; 4th Edition: 1-50. 
25. Parsons C.T., Rezanezhad F., O’Connell D.W., Van Cappellen P. Sediment phosphorus speciation and mobility under dynamic redox conditions. Bio Geoscience. 2017;14(14):3585-3602. 
26. Noor T., Alanisi E.M. Critical Assessment of Treated Wastewater and Their Reuse for Irrigation in Iraq. South Asia. Res. J. Biol. Appl. Biosci. 2022;4(2):50-62. 
27. Zhu Z., Chen S., Li Y., He J., Li Y., Hong P., Xie C., Wu Z., Lu J., Yang D., Kong L. Long-term performance and microbial insights of an iron-Carbon enhanced CW-MFC and shallow sand filtration system for rural grey water treatment. RSC Adv. 2026;16(7):6245-6256.