Wastewater Reuse, a Solution for Environmental Risks Reduction and Value Index Development for Wastewater Treatment Plants

This study aims to introduce the value index as a novel single-objective function for optimization. For this purpose, the performance of four municipal wastewater treatment plants are evaluated and compared by rating the removal efficiency, total capital and operating costs, and total environmental and operational risks. Finally, the value index and accordingly the best performance are determined. In order to increase the performance value, it is recommended that two plants are better to choose wastewater reclamation and reuse policy instead. It can significantly reduce the environmental violation risks and increase the total values without imposing any considerable costs.