Development of tools for the promotion of the sustainable urban wastewater treatment and reuse in Decision-making in environmental projects

Development of tools for he promotion of the sustainable urban wastewater treatment and reuse in Decision-making in environmental projects can be complex due mainly to the existence of trade-offs between socio-political, environmental and economic factors.

This is why the 'Medaware' project, which is an EU Meda Water Project, has focused its aims on the development of a software tool capable of applying a scoring system for existing wastewater facilities based on the potential safe reuse of the final effluent.

The tool helps guide the authorities responsible towards the most efficient solutions in terms of health and safety for the agricultural reuse of the produced effluent as well as to help them undertake actions that are sustainable.   

The input data for the specific model are quite simple and are easily collected (e.g. data concerning the population served by the facility, the possibilities for agricultural reuse of the water in the area, specific requirements or preferences regarding cultural, economical, technological or social issues), while outcome is a ranking of the alternative scenarios and the specific processes and treatment systems proposed. The tool is available online.