Citation:

Martin-Hernandez, E., Gerardo J. Ruiz-Mercado, C. Vaneeckhaute, AND C. Marquez. Socio-economic Implications of Deploying Sustainable Phosphorus Management Systems. Chapter 14, Contributions of Chemical Engineering to Sustainability. Springer, Heidelberg, Germany, , 419-430, (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-55594-7_14

Impact/Purpose:

The anthropogenic releases of phosphorus (P) to the environment cause eutrophication of waterbodies and possess harmful effects on the aquatic ecosystems, leading to the occurrence of algal blooms events which might result in hypoxia and the release of toxins, not only damaging the environment but also threatening human health as a consequence of the impairment of drinking water reservoirs. Among these anthropogenic P flows, municipal wastewater is a significant contributor to these releases due to their large extent. This work describes a cost assessment for preventing and controlling phosphorus releases from municipal wastewater effluents in local communities by accounting for the effect of the economies of scale and income distribution throughout the contiguous United States. The fraction of the average annual income the users would need to allocate to cover the cost of phosphorus removal in the absence of potential governmental incentives ranges from 0.002% to 2.5%. In terms of annual costs per household, the cost of phosphorus removal is strongly influenced by the economies of scale, ranging from 10$/year for the more populated counties favored by the economies of scale to thousands of dollars for those wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) serving less populated areas. This work results constitute a valuable source of information for designing fair policies that promote an equitable contribution of each community to the control and prevention of nutrient pollution.

Description:

Phosphorus causes nutrient pollution in lentic water systems, which act as a reservoir of phosphorus since it is stored within the sediments of these waterbodies. The effects of phosphorus pollution include harmful algal bloom events, hypoxia of waterbodies, and impairment of drinking water sources. Therefore, phosphorus removal or recovery systems must be deployed at point source releases like wastewater treatment plant (WWTP) effluents to mitigate these harmful effects. The economies of scale significantly impact the costs of phosphorus removal, resulting in considerably higher costs in areas where the predominant population structure are small and dispersed towns. Additionally, these areas’ average per capita income is generally lower than significant cities and their metropolitan areas. Therefore, the economic impact of requiring phosphorus removal systems to meet water quality criteria in local communities is crucial information to be considered in designing adequate incentive policies for supporting such water pollution control and prevention efforts. In this work, we assess the costs of preventing and controlling phosphorus releases from WWTP effluents in local communities, accounting for the economies of scale and income distribution throughout the contiguous United States by considering open data sources. The fraction of the average annual income the users would need to allocate to cover the cost of phosphorus removal in the absence of potential governmental incentives ranges from 0.002% to 2.5%. In terms of annual costs per household, the cost of phosphorus removal is strongly influenced by the economies of scale, ranging from 10$/year for the more populated counties favored by the economies of scale to thousands of dollars for those WWTPs serving less populated areas. The results obtained constitute a valuable source of information for designing fair policies that promote an equitable contribution of each community to the control and prevention of nutrient pollution.

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