Decentralized peri-urban wastewater treatment
technologies assessment integrating sustainability
indicators
Karel Mena-Ulecia and Heykel Hernández Hernández
ABSTRACT
The selection of the treatment technologies without taking care environmental, economic and social
factors associated with each geographical context, imply the appearance of negative impacts that
were not properly foreseen, attempting against the sustainable performance of the technology. The
principal aim was to evaluate 12 technologies of decentralized treatment of domestic wastewater
applicable for peri-urban communities using the sustainability approaches and at the same time
continue a discussion about how to address a more integrated assessment of the overall
sustainability. For this, a set of 13 indicators that embody the environmental, economic and social
approach for the overall sustainability assessment were used by mean of a target plot diagram as a
tool for integrating indicators that represents a holistic analysis of the technologies. The obtained
results put forward different sustainability degrees which let to select: septic tank þ land infiltration;
up-flow anaerobic reactor þ high rate trickling filter and septic tank þ anaerobic filter as the most
sustainable and attractive technologies to be applied in peri-urban communities, according to the
employed indicators.
Karel Mena-Ulecia (corresponding author)
Heykel Hernández Hernández
Departamento de Ciencias Químicas, Facultad de
Ciencias Exactas,
Universidad Andres Bello,
Avenida República #275,
Santiago de Chile,
Chile
E-mail: k.menaulecia@uandresbello.edu;
orula.endule@gmail.com
Key words | peri-urban communities, sustainability indicators, wastewater treatment
INTRODUCTION
The water pollution can be generated from natural source or
human activities, but recently, the most important is
undoubtedly, the human activities (Aleem & Malik ).
The urbanization produces great volumes of wastewater
(Rona et al. ), becoming the domestic wastewater in
peri-urban communities, one of the biggest polluters of
land and marine waters (Eggen et al. ).
Currently this problem not only persists, but also
increases each day, attracting the attention of international
organizations related to the quality of water resources and
urging underdeveloped countries mainly, to establish sol-
utions that enable proper management of wastewater and
the lack of clean water in the reduction of water related dis-
eases (Stalter et al. ). Given the magnitude of the
problem, the international scientific community has adopted
policies to decentralize wastewater treatment in peri-urban
communities, considering these more sustainable (Mara
; Zamalloa et al. ). To achieve the benefits provided
by the decentralized approach, one of the premises is the
correct selection of technology to be used, with the typical
problems associated such as the establishment and
implementation of foreign standards and the use of technol-
ogies not adapted to the realities of our country and
communities (von Sperling & de Lemos Chernicharo ).
The selection of wastewater treatment technologies
without considering the geographical context, environ-
mental, economic and social factors associated implies the
appearance of negative impacts that were not properly
planned, committing an outrage against the sustainable per-
formance of the technology. For this reason new tools of
analysis are being introduced, which examines the technol-
ogies, and help the decision making process, choosing the
best technology from a more holistic and suitable point of
view (holistic treatment). Several list of sustainability indi-
cators have been proposed to evaluate the wastewater
management and technologies (Balkema et al. ). These
studies were based on a wide and multidisciplinary set of
indicators; nevertheless, they have focused in the evaluation
of a treatment technology and not the comparison among
them.
1 © IWA Publishing 2015 Water Science & Technology | in press | 2015
doi: 10.2166/wst.2015.209
Uncorrected Proof