Making Asset Investment Decisions for Wastewater Systems That Include Sustainability
Publication: Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 134, Issue 3
Abstract
Effective integrated water management is a key component of the World Water Vision and the way in which aspirations for water equity may be realized. Part of the vision includes the promotion of sustainability of water systems and full accountability for their interaction with other urban systems. One major problem is that “sustainability” remains an elusive concept, although those involved with the provision of urban wastewater systems now recognize that decisions involving asset investment should use the “triple bottom line” approach to society, the economy, and the environment. The Sustainable Water Industry Asset Resource Decisions project has devised a flexible and adaptable framework of decision support processes that can be used to include the principles of sustainability more effectively. Decision mapping conducted at the outset of the project has shown that only a narrow range of criteria currently influence the outcome of asset investment decisions. This paper addresses the concepts of sustainability assessment and presents two case studies that illustrate how multicriteria decision support systems can enhance the assessment of the relative sustainability of a range of options when decisions are being made about wastewater asset investment.
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Acknowledgments
The writers would like to thank the following for contributing to the SWARD project: Steven Cavill and Gary McIlkenny at Heriot-Watt University; Timothy Foxon, Matthew Leach, and Peter Pearson at Imperial College London; Sarah Hendry, Jim Moir, and William Samson at the University of Abertay Dundee; and Hazem Gouda at Southern Water. They would also like to express their gratitude to the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council and the United Kingdom Water Industry for funding the SWARD and Whole Life Costs of Sewerage projects.
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Information & Authors
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Published In
Journal of Environmental Engineering
Volume 134 • Issue 3 • March 2008
Pages: 200 - 209
Copyright
© 2008 ASCE.
History
Received: Mar 6, 2006
Accepted: Jul 14, 2006
Published online: Mar 1, 2008
Published in print: Mar 2008
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