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Municipal Wastewater Reuse: Is it a Competitive Alternative to Seawater Desalination?

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  • Dafne Crutchik

    (Faculty of Engineering and Sciences, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Av. Diagonal Las Torres 2640, Santiago 7941169, Chile)

  • José Luis Campos

    (Faculty of Engineering and Sciences, Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez, Av. Diagonal Las Torres 2640, Santiago 7941169, Chile)

Abstract

Water scarcity is becoming a global challenge to attempts to narrow the water demand–supply gap. To overcome this problem, it is sensible to consider alternative technologies that can exploit non-conventional water resources. The choice of such technologies should be, however, carefully analyzed, because any choice might be unfeasible from an economic point of view. In this work, a methodology to select the most appropriate non-conventional water resource, out of municipal wastewater and seawater, was proposed. Specifically, we attempted to determine which alternative provides cheaper water supply and production costs for domestic uses, depending on the wastewater treatment system used and the water plant capacity. The production of water under three scenarios was analyzed: (i) a city that has a conventional wastewater treatment plant (WWTP); (ii) a city that uses primary treatment and submarine outfalls to treat municipal wastewater; (iii) seawater desalination. The proposed methodology was tested in Chilean cities that are located in areas where water is a scarce resource. The results showed that the reuse of municipal wastewater represents a cost-competitive alternative to seawater desalination, mainly when municipal wastewater is treated in a conventional WWTP and when water flow demand is higher than 1500 m 3 /d. In contrast, seawater desalination becomes more profitable than wastewater reuse when the treatment of municipal wastewater is based on the use of submarine outfalls. This study provides a useful economic tool for promoting municipal wastewater reuse as a non-conventional water source for supplying water to cities that suffer from water scarcity in Chile and in similar areas of the world.

Suggested Citation

  • Dafne Crutchik & José Luis Campos, 2021. "Municipal Wastewater Reuse: Is it a Competitive Alternative to Seawater Desalination?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(12), pages 1-16, June.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:12:p:6815-:d:576171
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    1. Douglas Aitken & Diego Rivera & Alex Godoy-Faúndez & Eduardo Holzapfel, 2016. "Water Scarcity and the Impact of the Mining and Agricultural Sectors in Chile," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(2), pages 1-18, February.
    2. Pablo Sarricolea & Mariajosé Herrera-Ossandon & Óliver Meseguer-Ruiz, 2017. "Climatic regionalisation of continental Chile," Journal of Maps, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 13(2), pages 66-73, November.
    3. Hussain, M. Iftikhar & Muscolo, Adele & Farooq, Muhammad & Ahmad, Waqar, 2019. "Sustainable use and management of non-conventional water resources for rehabilitation of marginal lands in arid and semiarid environments," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 221(C), pages 462-476.
    4. Pinto, F. Silva & Marques, R. Cunha, 2017. "Desalination projects economic feasibility: A standardization of cost determinants," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 904-915.
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