iDST: An integrated decision support tool for treatment and beneficial use of non-traditional water supplies - Part I. Methodology

The treatment and use of non-traditional water supplies such as saline water, domestic wastewater, and produced water from the oil and gas industry has been recognized as a viable solution to address water scarcity. A Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) based integrated decision support tool (iDST) was developed to select a combination of treatment technologies or treatment trains for different types of alternative water and beneficial use options, such as potable use, crop irrigation, livestock watering, hydraulic fracturing, well drilling, environmental restoration, and other industrial applications. The tool integrates costs and treatment capacities of a broad range of treatment technologies from pretreatment, conventional to advanced technologies, and posttreatment. The iDST is fully automated and selects treatment trains based on input data such as feed water quality, target water quality requirements, and treatment selection criteria including technical, energy demand, and economic criteria. The iDST starts with a comprehensive water quality database, then selects the most effective treatment trains that could meet water quality requirement for user selected beneficial use options with respect to multiple technical and economic criteria. The iDST was evaluated based on four case studies, including municipal wastewater for potable reuse and irrigation, and geothermal water for surface discharge and power plant cooling. The iDST selected cost-effective treatment trains capable of producing the water quality required for end uses given site-specific conditions and feed water quality. The iDST provides a comprehensive tool to evaluate potential water treatment and end-use options with consideration of multiple criteria, functions, objectives, and constraints.