Environmental Benefits and Economical Sustainability of Urban Wastewater Reuse for Irrigation—A Cost-Benefit Analysis of an Existing Reuse Project in Puglia, Italy

Arena, Claudio; Genco, Mario; Mazzola, Mario Rosario

doi:10.3390/w12102926

Cited by 36 publications

(26 citation statements)

References 39 publications

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“…Economic valuation indicators will be utilized to determine the value of direct and indirect wastewater use, which is directly linked to agricultural costs and benefits. The cost–benefit analysis follows direct/indirect components of wastewater discharge, agricultural practices, crop yield, policy, and socioeconomic conditions, maximizing agricultural wastewater reuse's direct and direct cost (Arena et al 2020 ).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental rethinking of wastewater drains to manage environmental pollution and alleviate water scarcity

2021

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The conservation of water resources in developed countries has become an increasing concern. In integrated water resource management, water quality indicators are critical. The low groundwater quality quantitates mainly attributed to the absence of protection systems for polluted streams that collect and recycle the untreated wastewater. Egypt has a limited river network; thus, the supply of water resources remains inadequate to satisfy domestic demand. In this regard, high-quality groundwater is one of the main strategies for saving water supplies with water shortage problems. This paper investigates the critical issues of groundwater protection and environmental management of polluted streams, leading to overcoming water demand-about 18 × 10 3 km of polluted open streams with a discharge of 9.70 billion Cubic Metter (BCM). We have proposed proposals and policies for the safe use of groundwater and reuse of wastewater recycling for agriculture and other purposes. This study was carried out using the numerical model MODFLOW and MT3DMS—(Mass Transport 3-Dimension Multi-Species) to assess the Wastewater Treated Plant's (WWTP) best location and the critical path for using different lining materials of polluted streams to avoid groundwater contamination. The three contaminants are BOD, COD, and TDS. Five scenarios were applied for mitigating the impact of polluted water: (1) abstraction forcing, (2) installing the WWTP at the outlet of the main basin drain with and without a lining of main and sub-basin streams (base case), (3) lining of main and sub-main streams, (4) installing WWTP at the outlet of the sub-basin streams, and (5) lining of the sub-basin and installing WWTP at the outlet of the sub-basin. The results showed that the best location of WWTP in polluted streams is developed at the outlets of sub-basin with the treatment of main basin water and the lining of sub-basins streams. The contamination was reduced by 76.07, 76.38, and 75.67% for BOD, COD, and TDS, respectively, using Cascade Aeration Biofilter or Trickling Filter, Enhancing Solar water Disinfection [(CABFESD)/(CATFESD)] and High-Density Polyethylene lining. This method is highly effective and safe for groundwater and surface water environmental protection. This study could be managing the water poverty for polluted streams and groundwater in the Global South and satisfy the environmental issues to improve water quality and reduce the treatment and health cost in these regions.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Environmental rethinking of wastewater drains to manage environmental pollution and alleviate water scarcity

2021

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“…This is the case of only groundwater irrigation, where all costs are private and borne by the farmers themselves. According to the current local law, the burden of the investment cost for water reuse (tertiary treatment) is not charged to farmers, but to all customers in the region [42]. Depending on the local situation, another added value would be economizing fertilizer usage from the use of nutrient-loaded waters.…”

Section: How Does the Performance Of Crop Cultivation Irrigated With Reclaimed Water Compare To Irrigation With Groundwater?mentioning

confidence: 99%

The Economics of Fruit and Vegetable Production Irrigated with Reclaimed Water Incorporating the Hidden Costs of Life Cycle Environmental Impacts

Canaj¹,

Mehmeti

Berbel

2021

Resources

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The estimation and quantification of external environmental costs (hidden costs) are crucial to sustainability assessments of treated wastewater reuse projects. These costs, however, are rarely considered in economic analysis studies. In this work, monetized life cycle assessment (LCA) and life cycle costing (LCC) were combined into a hybrid model to calculate cradle-to-farm gate external environmental costs (EEC) and internal costs (IC) of producing 1 t of plant-based product irrigated with reclaimed water in a Mediterranean context. The total cost was calculated by combining monetized LCA and LCC results. The results for the crops under consideration were 119.4 €/t for tomatoes, 344.4 €/t for table grapes, and 557 €/t for artichokes. Our findings show that there are significant hidden costs at the farm level, with EEC accounting for 57%, 23%, and 38% of the total cost of tomatoes, table grapes, and artichokes, respectively. Electricity use for water treatment and fertilization generated most of the EEC driven by the global warming, particulate matter, acidification, and fossil resource scarcity impact categories. When compared to groundwater, the higher internal costs of reclaimed water were offset by lower external costs, particularly when supported by low-energy wastewater treatment. This demonstrates that incorporating EEC into economic analyses might generate a better understanding of the profitability of treated wastewater reuse in crop production. In Italy and the Mediterranean region, research on the sustainability of water reuse in irrigation through life cycle thinking is still limited. Using a multi-metric approach, our analysis brought new insights into both economic and environmental performance – and their tradeoff relationships in wastewater reuse for irrigation of agricultural crops. In future research, it would be of interest to use different monetization methods as well as to investigate social externalities to explore their size and role in the total external costs.

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“…Moretti et al [11] conducted an LCA of water reuse in orchard irrigation in Foggia, demonstrating trade-offs between beneficial eutrophication (marine and freshwater) and harmful climate change and toxicity impacts. Other studies focused separately on the economic analysis of the costs and benefits associated with wastewater treatment [13][14][15].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reclaimed Water for Vineyard Irrigation in a Mediterranean Context: Life Cycle Environmental Impacts, Life Cycle Costs, and Eco-Efficiency

Canaj¹,

Morrone²,

Roma

et al. 2021

Water

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The agricultural sector in the Mediterranean region, is increasingly using reclaimed water as an additional source for irrigation. However, there is a limited number of case studies about product-based life cycle analysis to ensure that the overall benefits of reclaimed water do indeed outweigh the impacts. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) methods are used in this study to investigate the environmental impacts and costs of vineyard cropping systems when tertiary reclaimed water is used as a supplementary source of irrigation water (integrated system). The conventional production system utilizing 100% groundwater was used as a reference system. As a proxy for sustainability, eco-efficiency, which combines economic and environmental performance, was assessed. The LCA revealed that the integrated system could reduce the net environmental impact by 23.8% due to lower consumption of irrigation water (−50%), electricity (−27.7%), and chemical fertilizers (−22.6%). Nevertheless, trade-offs between economics and the environment occurred as an integrated system is associated with higher life cycle costs and lower economic returns due to lower crop yield (−9.1%). The combined eco-efficiency assessment (ratio of economic value added to total environmental impact) revealed that the integrated system outperformed in terms of eco-efficiency by 12.6% due to lower environmental impacts. These results confirmed that reclaimed water could help to ensure an economically profitable yield with net environmental benefits. Our results provided an up-to-date and consistent life cycle analysis contributing to the creation of a valuable knowledge base for the associated costs and benefits of vineyard cultivation with treated wastewater.

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Environmental Benefits and Economical Sustainability of Urban Wastewater Reuse for Irrigation—A Cost-Benefit Analysis of an Existing Reuse Project in Puglia, Italy

Cited by 36 publications

References 39 publications

Environmental rethinking of wastewater drains to manage environmental pollution and alleviate water scarcity

Environmental rethinking of wastewater drains to manage environmental pollution and alleviate water scarcity

The Economics of Fruit and Vegetable Production Irrigated with Reclaimed Water Incorporating the Hidden Costs of Life Cycle Environmental Impacts

Reclaimed Water for Vineyard Irrigation in a Mediterranean Context: Life Cycle Environmental Impacts, Life Cycle Costs, and Eco-Efficiency

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