Sustainability metrics for assessing water resource recovery facilities of the future

Abstract

The recovery of water, energy, and nutrients from water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) is needed to address major global challenges, such as increasing water demand and decreasing availability of non-renewable resources. To meet these challenges, innovative technological developments must lead to increased adoption of water and resource recovery processes, while addressing stakeholder needs (e.g., innovators, practioners, regulators). A testbed network of over 90 partner facilities within the U.S. and abroad will help accelerate innovation and widespread adoption of novel processes through multi-scale testing and demonstration of technologies. In this paper, we define a common set of environmental, economic, technical, and social performance metrics for innovative technologies that will meet the needs of multiple stakeholders in the decision-making process. These triple bottom line performance metrics can be used to track the sustainability of technologies in a consistent and transparent manner, while aiding the decision making process for WRRFs of the future.

Legislation for the Reuse of Biosolids on Agricultural Land in Europe: Overview

“…In recent years, the European Commission adopted an ambitious Circular Economy Package to promote the reuse, recycling, and recovery of wastes [26]. The reuse of biosolids on land application enhanced the recovery of resources (e.g., nutrients [27,28]) and, therefore allows changing the classic view of WWTP in a more sustainable water resources recovery facility (WRRF) [16,[29][30][31].…”

Biosolids: What are the different types of reuse?

“…The urban WWTPs can be an important part of circular sustainability thanks to integration with the concept of reuse of biosolids (BS), namely treated biological SS (Neczaj and Grosser, 2018). In this context, WWTPs can be reoriented to function as water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) (Cornejo et al, 2019;Zhao et al, 2019). In fact, traditional WWTPs are focused on the goals of human health and environmental protection; in the WRRFs the goal of resource recovery, through subsequently BS reuse, is added (Cornejo et al, 2019).…”

“…In this context, WWTPs can be reoriented to function as water resource recovery facilities (WRRFs) (Cornejo et al, 2019;Zhao et al, 2019). In fact, traditional WWTPs are focused on the goals of human health and environmental protection; in the WRRFs the goal of resource recovery, through subsequently BS reuse, is added (Cornejo et al, 2019). BS, once considered a waste product by the industry, are now becoming increasingly recognised as a multifunctional resource with growing opportunities for marketable use (Short et al, 2018).…”

Potential Pitfalls in Wastewater Phosphorus Analysis and How to Avoid Them

“… 2 , 14 , 27 , 28 Standardized P reporting is required to compare performance across different technologies and wastewater streams to accelerate technology adoption, yet a critical gap exists due to lack of a common set of metrics. 29 This knowledge gap in reporting metrics for P and its different chemical species is also highlighted in a recent systematic review of nutrient removal and recovery technologies by Kogler et al 30 In reviewing 292 articles across 46 sources, Kogler et al 30 found that removal efficiency and achievable effluent concentrations for P removal and recovery technologies are generally underreported, with only 16% of the articles reviewed giving adequate quantitative information for meaningful interpretation of technology performance.…”