Assessment of wastewater reuse potential for irrigation in rural semi-arid areas: the case study of Punitaqui, Chile
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Assessment of wastewater reuse potential for irrigation in rural semi‑arid areas: the case study of Punitaqui, Chile Serrao Livia1 · Molinos‑Senante María2 · Bezzi Marco1 · Ragazzi Marco1 Received: 7 January 2020 / Accepted: 28 May 2020 © Springer-Verlag GmbH Germany, part of Springer Nature 2020
Abstract Wastewater reuse in agriculture has been identified as an adaptive solution to climate change. This practice copes with two of the most limiting factors that are affecting sustainable development in rural areas: the lack of sanitation services and water shortages. This paper proposes a multi-criteria methodological approach to evaluate wastewater reuse potential for irrigation in rural areas and to select the most sustainable and context-aware wastewater treatment technology. In order to validate the procedure, an empirical application for the Coquimbo region (Chile) was developed. The water balance conducted illustrated that the potential wastewater source can only partially substitute for the water canonical sources. According to local citizen preferences, among the three evaluated, the most sustainable wastewater treatment technology option consists of septic tank and constructed wetland. This study provides evidence for the relevance of integrating social and environmental criteria, in addition to technical and economic ones, for supporting decision-making processes related to wastewater reuse. Graphic abstract
Keywords Wastewater reuse · Irrigation · Analytic hierarchy process (AHP) · Multi-criteria analysis · Rural areas
* Molinos‑Senante María [email protected] Extended author information available on the last page of the article
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Introduction Climate change is affecting the entire planet with increasing and visible consequences in several fields including water resources availability (Cortés et al. 2012; IPCC 2014a, b; MMA 2016). According to Burek (2016), water poverty affects roughly half of the world’s population, which is already living in potential water-scarce areas, at least 1 month per year, and the number of people affected is expected to increase to 4.8–5.7 billion in 2050. Despite the water shortages, the main occupational activity of rural people is frequently agriculture (Berdegué 2010), which is one of the human activities with the highest water consumption (Allen et al. 1998). However, thanks to the scientific research, the current wastewater treatment solutions could ensure a considerable abatement of pollutants and nutrients and make the effluent suitable for crop irrigation in a controlled manner (Netzer et al. 2014; ISPRA 2012; Manyuchi et al. 2013; Mcheik et al. 2017). Hence, wastewater reuse is one of the most common adaptive actions and is becoming an increasingly desirable solution, especially in conditions of water scarcity (Ventura et al. 2019). Some countries have developed specific normative framework to regulate the use of the effluent from wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) for different uses including agriculture. The most common w
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