Economic and environmental performance of wastewater treatment plants: Potential reductions in greenhouse gases emissions |
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| Institution: | 1. Department of Mathematics for Economics, University of Valencia, Avda. Tarongers S/N, 46022 Valencia, Spain;2. Department of Applied Economics II, University of Valencia, Avda. Tarongers S/N, 46022 Valencia, Spain;1. School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing, 100084, China;2. Environmental Simulation and Pollution Control State Key Joint Laboratory, School of Environment, Tsinghua University, Beijing 100084, China;1. Department of Chemical Engineering, Institute of Technology, University of Santiago de Compostela, 15782 Santiago de Compostela, Galicia, Spain;2. Peruvian LCA Network, Department of Engineering, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú, 1801 Avenida Universitaria, San Miguel, Lima 32, Peru;3. CETaqua, Water Technology Centre, 08940 Cornellà de Llobregat, Barcelona, Spain;1. Departamento de Ingeniería Hidráulica y Ambiental, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Av. Vicuña Mackenna, 4860, Santiago, Chile;2. Facultad de Arquitectura e Instituto de Estudios Urbanos y Territoriales, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, El Comendador, 1916, Santiago, Chile;3. Centro de Desarrollo Urbano Sustentable CONICYT/FONDAP/15110020, Av. Vicuña Mackenna, 4860, Santiago, Chile;4. Departamento de Economía y Administración de Empresas, Universidad de Málaga, Campus El Ejido, 29071, Málaga, Spain;5. Departamento de Economía Aplicada (Matemáticas), Universidad de Málaga, Campus El Ejido, 29071, Málaga, Spain;6. Departamento de Matemáticas para la Economía y la Empresa, Universidad de Valencia, Campus dels Tarongers, 46022, Valencia, Spain |
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| Abstract: | Sanitation and wastewater treatment are essential for protecting human health and environmental sustainability. Treatment processes are not free of environmental impacts; consequently assessment of the environmental performance of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) has gained interest in recent years. Unlike other methods, a direct approach is followed to estimate environmental performance indicators (EPIs) using data envelopment analysis (DEA), i.e. an index of overall performance is directly obtained. The present study represents pioneering work to integrate environmental impacts in the assessment of the efficiency of WWTP estimating pure (PEPI) and mixed (MEPI) environmental performance indices for a sample of 60 Spanish WWTPs. Both direct and indirect greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were considered as undesirable outputs. The best functioning WWTPs to be used as references were identified, and the potential for GHG reductions was quantified. A second-stage analysis was conducted to isolate factors affecting WWTP environmental performance. The results of this study are valuable for WWTP operators and policy makers, since the benchmark procedure allows support for environmental and managerial decision-making. |
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| Keywords: | Wastewater treatment Data envelopment analysis (DEA) Efficiency Environmental performance index Greenhouse gases (GHG) Undesirable outputs |
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