ANNOUNCEMENTS
Water scarcity has become one of the major concern globally. As the demand for water is increasing, this problem is getting worse. One of the major sources of water borne diseases is the contamination of water in our rivers and oceans with discharges of treated and untreated wastewater One of the ways to address this issue is to create a use of the wastewater. Wastewater reuse is one of the emerging and promising water resource as it is being used in many sectors such as agricultural, industrial, recreational etc and it fairs well on the different sustainability dimensions. It helps us cut down on water pollution through discharge of the wastewater in the water bodies and saving aquatic life forms By using wastewater we are able to create a new source of water that can be used in different sectors depending on the levels of treatment.
Centralized wastewater system is associated with large scale treatment plant and large scale distribution and transfer of water whereas in a decentralised system there is onsite treatment and onsite reuse of water. Decentralized wastewater system provides the opportunity to reuse the water in places that may not be connected to centralized system.
This study determines the methodology to calculate the costs and benefits of the different wastewater treatment technologies using a case study of a pilot level wastewater treatment plant in New Delhi near the Barahpullah drain and also identifying the opportunities and the challenges of wastewater reuse. The approach for the research includes estimating the environmental benefits from the wastewater treatment plant as in the traditional benefit cost analysis only economic benefits are considered leaving behind the environmental benefits.
Keywords: Benefit Cost Analysis, Wastewater Reuse, Decentralized system, Wastewater treatment plant, Environmental benefits
