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Water quality management: Engineering‐economic factors in municipal waste disposal
Author(s) -
Frankel Richard J.
Publication year - 1965
Publication title -
water resources research
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.863
H-Index - 217
eISSN - 1944-7973
pISSN - 0043-1397
DOI - 10.1029/wr001i002p00173
Subject(s) - environmental science , effluent , sewage , sewage treatment , waste management , water quality , upstream (networking) , waste treatment , investment (military) , business , environmental engineering , water resource management , engineering , ecology , biology , telecommunications , politics , political science , law
Savings in treatment costs to municipal water treatment plants downstream result directly from improved municipal sewage treatment upstream. The maximum return per additional investment dollar is from primary to secondary sewage treatment. The ratio of cost savings to the costs of additional treatment varies between negligible and 0.10. The quantity of withdrawal for municipal water supply required to justify additional upstream treatment costs is of the order of from 16 to 250:1 for small sewage treatment plants and from 10 to 30:1 for large sewage treatment plants, if in‐place use and stream quality are of minor importance. If clean streams are desired, the costs of maintaining high stream quality must therefore be justified by in‐place uses, such as for recreation and fish and wildlife preserves. In areas where reclamation of municipal waste effluents is feasible, present emphasis on maximizing stream assimilative capacity through minimum waste treatment is poor utilization of water resources.