Social Impacts Assessment of Water Demand Management Policies on Wastewater System by Using SLCA Method

Document Type : Research Article

Authors

1 M.Sc. student, School of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

2 Professor, Center of Excellence for Management and Engineering of Civil Infrastructure School of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran, Tehran, Iran.

3 Ph.D. Candidate, School of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, University of Tehran

Abstract

Urban water demand management policies (UWDMPs) are being proposed as a solution to deal with water scarcity. Applying any UWDMPs can lead to positive/ negative impacts on several aspects, including the urban infrastructure (e.g., water distribution networks or wastewater systems). Besides, studies on the effects of these policies on urban infrastructures have often focused on the water sector, and there is scant evidence in the wastewater section. Hence, in the current study, the impacts of the implementation of UWDMPs on sewage systems (consisting of the wastewater collection system and the wastewater treatment plant) from a social viewpoint have been evaluated during different scenarios of demand reduction. For this purpose, the Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) method, as a subset of life cycle thinking, has been applied. In this regard, Baharestan city (located in Isfahan province) is selected. The groups (stakeholders) related to wastewater systems that are affected by the social impacts of UWDMPs have been identified and their characteristics have been determined. Stakeholders contain the social and local community, workers, and consumers (stakeholders that use wastewater or its other products for a specific activity). Then, by compiling a questionnaire and using the experts' opinions, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method has been used in order to evaluate scenarios. In this procedure, (1) indicators are scored by the survey from experts, (2) the intensity of the effects of indicators in each scenario is specified, and (3) the social score of all scenarios is obtained. The results showed that social and local community had the biggest weight among stakeholders (weight of 0.45), and safe and healthy living condition was the most important indicator for this stakeholder. Moreover, the scenario that had the least decline in water consumption and sewage production was socially better than the others.

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References

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Amirkabir Journal of Civil Engineering
Volume 53, Issue 12
March 2022
Pages 5239-5258

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