Abstract
Abstract This paper demonstrates a comprehensive methodology for assessing the comparison of unit water production cost (UWPC) between alternative water resources including desalination, freshwater reservoirs, single-purpose dams, underground dams and two indirect water in take technologies – riverbank filtration and aquifer storage and recovery (ASR). This study considers the Monte Carlo simulation as the only viable solution to tackle this critical question, which can be used to evaluate the economics of diverse water supply schemes incorporating those alternatives and prepare long-term water supply planning. Built upon actual and conceptual cost data for each alternative, total project cost and operation and management cost estimation models for each alternative were developed and used for generating mean UWPC information using the Monte Carlo simulation approach. The mean UWPC differences between alternative water supply schemes were found to be statistically significant and the simulation results revealed that ASR is the lowest-cost option to provide drinkable water for both cases when a conventional water treatment plant (WTP) and advanced WTP were used as a connected post-treatment process.
Highlights
Alternative water resources are usually perceived as new water supply methods, in islands and mountainous areas, where the direct in take of water through conventional methods such as dams, surface water, and direct use of groundwater is difficult to adopt (Park )
Step (1): identify alternative water supply schemes consisting of alternative water resource projects such as DES, single-purpose dam (SPD), freshwater reservoir (FWR), underground dams (UGDs), riverbank filtration (RBF), and ASR, and postwater-treatment utilities such as conventional water treatment plant (WTP) and advanced WTP, and collect their total project costs (TPCs) and operation and management (O&M) costs based on real project documents and conceptual feasibility reports
Conventional water treatment processes were used for RBF and ASR in this simulation, and the unit water production cost (UWPC) for each alternative were valid and drawn only within the capacity range, from which the O&M cost estimation models were developed
Summary
Alternative water resources are usually perceived as new water supply methods, in islands and mountainous areas, where the direct in take of water through conventional methods such as dams, surface water, and direct use of groundwater is difficult to adopt (Park ). Despite no clear definition of alternative water resources, desalination (DES), underground dams (UGDs), and riverbank filtration (RBF) are classified as alternative water resource projects because they can secure water sources, increase the cost effectiveness of producing water, and. Another alternative method that is gaining greater attention as a new source of water and under investigation in several countries including Korea, China, Qatar, and a few more Middle Eastern countries is aquifer storage and recovery (ASR). ASR was defined by Pyne ( ) as ‘the storage of water in a suitable aquifer through a well during times when water is available, and recovery of the water from the same well during times when it is needed.’ The vadose zone plays a filtering, absorbing, and biologically mediated reacting role in removing or reducing the concentrations of suspended
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