Tools for the economic evaluation of wastewater reclamation and reuse

Abstract

The economic evaluation is basic for any reclaimed water reuse project. Nevertheless, the calculation tools for this evaluation have scarcely been developed due to the lack of application of the existing models and the need to consider more circumstances that the actually used for the evaluations. The authors develop a comprehensive tool, comprising several steps, as follows: analysis of the basics of any project; socioeconomic characterization; building, operation and maintenance of the facility; and evaluation of the positive and negative externalities.