The direct discharge of untreated wastewater is the leading cause for depleting water quality and creating health, ecosystem, and climate-related hazards. The high loading of nutrients and emerging contaminants into the waterways restricts access to potable water and negatively impacts the ecosystem and human health. Moreover, with the current scenarios of depleted resources, municipal wastewater can be considered as an untapped reserve for nutrients like phosphate. Hence, to tackle the elevated stress on water resources, there is a need to develop an on-site water quality monitoring system and cost-effective wastewater treatment technologies to recover and reuse water. With this background, the research problem was formulated to tackle water quality challenges in terms of high nutrient loading and emerging contaminants. This seminar discusses the development of colorimetric sensors for detecting nitrite/nitrate and phosphate and the application of waste-derived adsorbents to remove pharmaceuticals and personal care products from wastewater. The low cost (0.01-0.08$ / strip), high sensitivity (LOD: 0.005 mg/L for nitrite/ nitrate, 0.07 mg/L for phosphate), ease of portability and naked-eye detection makes the developed colorimetric sensor an attractive option for on-site water quality monitoring. Additionally, waste-derived adsorbent (PEBC450-A) allows effective removal (70-75 %) of pharmaceutical and personal care products from wastewater. The lower cost and environmental footprint of PEBC450-A compared to commercial adsorbents make it a sustainable adsorbent for water treatment. Overall, the present study developed a cost-effective technique for on-site monitoring of nutrient pollution and proposed a sustainable solution for removing emerging contaminants from wastewater.