Wastewater treatment systems selection inside watersheds by using multiobjective analysis

ABSTRACT In order to determine required wastewater treatment plants (WWTP’s) efficiencies, several methodologies have been proposed to assist the sewage treatment systems process selection, usually aiming to achieve economic objectives. However, in water resources problems solving, search involves multiple and conflicting objectives. This work used, for Pardo’s river basin (Espírito Santo State, Brazil), water quality simulation model, optimization technique and multiobjective analysis for selecting sewage treatment systems, taking into account Brazilian environmental effluents Biochemical Oxygen Demand standards, imposed by CONAMA Resolution 430/2011. After proposing an optimization model that allowed the estimation of minimum organic matter removal efficiencies, a multiobjective analysis was applied by using the ELECTRE III method, which selected sewage treatment systems for localities responsible for domestic wastewater disposal in Pardo’s river basin. The results indicated that keeping the effluents standards can produce treatment plants overestimation and inadequate allocated financial resources distribution for sewage treatment plants implementation. Treatment systems such as Submerged Aerated Biofilters (with Nitrification), Wetlands and Facultative Ponds were the most selected, considering different contexts appreciated in this work.