Full text

Turn on search term navigation

© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.

Abstract

Small communities and most rural settlements in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA) store domestic wastewater in residential septic tanks and transport it to the nearest centralized wastewater treatment plant. Without a sanitary sewerage system, the residents encounter various socioeconomic and environmental challenges related to sewage collection vehicles, the production of objectionable gases, and leaking septic tanks. The present study developed a resident perception-based methodology to appraise the sustainability of a low-cost ceramic filter bioreactor-type decentralized wastewater treatment system (DWWTS) for a small community of 1300 residents (160 households) in Qassim (KSA). In addition to six demographic factors, nine indicators assessed residents’ perceptions about existing and proposed wastewater management systems. A hierarchical-based system of sub-indices evaluated the three dimensions of sustainability using four environmental, nine social, and three economic indicators. The indicators translated into dichotomous questions posed to 34 respondents in the study area. The statistical analysis assessed the association of responses with the willingness to accept (WTA) the proposed DWWTS. A subjective rating scheme translated the responses into performance scores, and a fuzzy-based method aggregated the scores into sub- and top-level indices. The top of the hierarchy showed a close agreement between the resident’s perception and DWWTS’ sustainability. The study found that residents’ knowledge about environment and resource conservation resulted in a moderately high willingness to reuse treated effluent and WTA the decentralized system. The study also showed that the economic viability of a DWWTS remained at a moderate performance level due to a low monthly waste disposal cost. The study’s findings present a high potential for sustainable community-maintained DWWTS initially supported by the government. The proposed approach facilitates decision-makers working in ministries concerning water resources, environmental protection, and agricultural production in evaluating the sustainability of DWWTS for small communities in arid regions.

Details

Title
Sustainability of a Low-Cost Decentralized Treatment System for Wastewater Reuse: Resident Perception-Based Evaluation for Arid Regions
Author
Alresheedi, Mohammad T 1 ; Haider, Husnain 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Albuaymi, Abdulmohsen M 1 ; AlSaleem, Saleem S 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Shafiquzzaman, Md 1   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Alharbi, Abdulaziz 2   VIAFID ORCID Logo  ; Ahsan, Amimul 3 

 Department of Civil Engineering, College of Engineering, Qassim University, Buraydah 51452, Saudi Arabia; [email protected] (H.H.); [email protected] (A.M.A.); [email protected] (S.S.A.); [email protected] (M.S.) 
 Department of Plant Production and Protection, College of Agriculture and Veterinary Medicine, Qassim University, Buraydah 51452, Saudi Arabia; [email protected] 
 Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Islamic University of Technology (IUT), Gazipur 1704, Bangladesh; [email protected]; Department of Civil and Construction Engineering, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne 3122, Australia 
First page
3458
Publication year
2023
Publication date
2023
Publisher
MDPI AG
e-ISSN
20734441
Source type
Scholarly Journal
Language of publication
English
ProQuest document ID
2876676363
Copyright
© 2023 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/). Notwithstanding the ProQuest Terms and Conditions, you may use this content in accordance with the terms of the License.