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Assessment of wastewater reuse potential for irrigation in rural semi-arid areas: the case study of Punitaqui, Chile

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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.

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Change history

  • 27 September 2020

    In this mentioned article, the Author names are mistakenly have been replaced with the family name of the authors, and so the family names with the names.

Notes

  1. This list of indicators can be modified according to local and regional conditions where the project is developed.

  2. Additionally, the NH3 is also a key element to assess. In this case study, the amount of NH3 was evaluated as a percentage of N, as reported in the literature (Andreottola 2003).

  3. An alternative set of technologies can be considered depending on the localization of each empirical application.

  4. The factors that could affect the growth of crops do not only belong to the N components, also phosphorus and its derivatives, metals (K, Mg, Ca, Cu, Zn, Mn, Fe) and dissolved salts, which are recognized as dangerous elements, according to their concentration, for crops. Unfortunately, the wastewater analyses do not measure these variables; thus, it was not possible to take them into account.

  5. A scenario analysis was conducted assuming different weights for each dimension: Scenario (A) the three criteria are equals; Scenario (B) one by one, one of the criteria prevails over the other two (50%, 25% and 25%); and Scenario (C) the gap is even greater among criteria (80%, 10% and 10%).

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Acknowledgements

We would like to thank the PRODESAL team for their friendly and technical support, the Comunidad Agricola of Punitaqui and all the inhabitants of rural areas without whom it would not have been possible to carry out the work on field.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. DICAM, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Civile, Ambientale e Meccanica, Università di Trento, Via Mesiano 77, 38122, Trento, Italy

    Serrao Livia, Bezzi Marco & Ragazzi Marco

  2. Departamento de Ingeniería Hidráulica y Ambiental, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Av. Vicuña Mackenna, 4860, Santiago, Chile

    Molinos-Senante María

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  1. Serrao Livia
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  2. Molinos-Senante María
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  3. Bezzi Marco
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Correspondence to Molinos-Senante María.

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Livia, S., María, MS., Marco, B. et al. Assessment of wastewater reuse potential for irrigation in rural semi-arid areas: the case study of Punitaqui, Chile. Clean Techn Environ Policy 22, 1325–1338 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10098-020-01874-3

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