Sewage treatment involves a trade-off of land vs. energy and the location of installing Sewage Treatment Plants (STPs) strongly impacts the decisions regarding treatment technologies. In the wake of rapid urbanization, deteriorating freshwater quality and water scarcity, it is crucial to plan adequate and low-cost sewerage infrastructure that can improve the quality of life in rural and urban areas. The present work involves a novel life cycle analysis through six scenarios generated from a holistic perspective that can aid urban planners and urban local bodies in planning the sewage treatment facilities in their cities, towns or villages. Instead of planning sewerage infrastructure for a long-term period of thirty years, it is suggested to create and operate the STPs only for the upcoming decade. Further, owing to the drawbacks of mechanized and natural treatment systems, adopting a mix of these treatment approaches in planning infrastructure is suggested and the benefits of implementing the same are quantified and discussed. Implementing these strategies results in almost 30 % cost savings and 40 % reduction in greenhouse gas emissions, hence, investing in land for natural treatment systems is suggested instead of incurring heavy electricity bills for mechanized treatment systems. The land cost significantly affects the decision-making regarding treatment technology selection; hence, the variation in the life cycle cost of different sewage treatment approaches is assessed for varying land rates in India.

中文翻译：

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污水处理自然处理系统的经济和环境效益：生命周期视角


污水处理涉及土地与能源的权衡，污水处理厂 (STP) 的安装位置强烈影响有关处理技术的决策。随着快速城市化、淡水质量恶化和水资源短缺，规划充足且低成本的污水基础设施至关重要，以改善农村和城市地区的生活质量。目前的工作涉及从整体角度生成的六种情景进行新颖的生命周期分析，可以帮助城市规划者和城市地方机构规划其城市、城镇或村庄的污水处理设施。建议仅在未来十年内创建和运营污水处理厂，而不是长期规划三十年的污水处理基础设施。此外，由于机械化和自然处理系统的缺点，建议在规划基础设施时采用这些处理方法的混合，并量化和讨论实施这些处理方法的好处。实施这些策略可节省近 30% 的成本，并减少 40% 的温室气体排放，因此，建议投资自然处理系统的土地，而不是为机械化处理系统带来巨额电费。土地成本显着影响处理技术选择决策；因此，针对印度不同的土地价格，评估了不同污水处理方法的生命周期成本的差异。