Abstract
Water scarcity is causing a great impact on the population. Rural areas are most affected by often lacking a stable water supply, being more susceptible to the impact of drought events, and with greater risk of contamination due to the lack of appropriate water treatment systems. Decentralized greywater treatment systems for water reuse in rural areas can be a powerful alternative to alleviate these impacts. However, the economic feasibility of these systems must be thoroughly evaluated. This study reports an economic analysis carried out on the viability of greywater reuse considering scenarios with light greywater or dark greywater to be treated. For this, data obtained from the assembly and monitoring of greywater treatment systems located in the north-central zone of Chile, supplemented with data obtained from the literature were used. The results showed that both scenarios are not economically viable, since the investment and operating costs are not amortized by the savings in water. In both evaluated cases (public schools), the economic indicators were less negative when treating light greywater compared with the sum of light greywater and dark greywater as the inlet water to be treated. The investment and operating costs restrict the implementation of these water reuse systems, since in the evaluation period (20 years) a return on the initial investment is not achieved. Even so, our results suggest that the best alternative to reuse greywater in small-scale decentralized systems is to treat light greywater, but it is necessary to consider a state subsidy that not only supports capital costs but also reduces operating and maintenance costs. These findings support the idea that the type of water to be treated is a factor to consider in the implementation of decentralized greywater treatment systems for the reuse of water in rural areas and can help decision-making on the design and configuration of these systems.
Highlights
The design of the systems is equal for both cases, with a maximum greywater treatment capacity of 1000 L per day, which allows a potential expansion for both schools, mainly for Los Pozos, for which the current level of greywater treatment is around 26% of the total capacity
The capital cost is higher for the case that considers light and dark greywater, which has a membrane bioreactor (MBR) that allows for treating the most polluted greywater
Thethe treatment design contemplates the reuse of light and This dark supports greywaterthe was idea that small-scale public water reuse projects, such as those evaluated in this study, more unfavorable than that which only considers the treatment of light greywater
Summary
Water scarcity is a global problem that has intensified in recent years. Rural areas are more exposed to pressures on water resources and require measures to reduce water demand [2]. As water resources become scarcer and it becomes more difficult to meet global demand, efforts are being made to improve efficiency in water management. Among the approaches developed to address this problem, the reuse of water and the search for alternative sources have emerged as options [3,4]. An alternative that that has been explored is the reuse of greywater [5]. It has been shown that the reuse of water can present an opportunity to improve the availability of water resources in urban and rural areas [5,6]. The economic and technological sustainability of these systems must be adequately evaluated to determine if the greywater reuse systems can be sustainable in the long term
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