Journal
ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT REVIEW
Volume 69, Issue -, Pages 24-31Publisher
ELSEVIER SCIENCE INC
DOI: 10.1016/j.eiar.2017.11.007
Keywords
Wastewater treatment; Eco-productivity; Dynamic eco-efficiency; Undesirable outputs; Data envelopment analysis; Luenberger productivity indicator
Categories
Funding
- Spanish Ministry of Education [ECO2016-76567-C4-4-12]
- Junta de Andalucia [SEJ417]
- Conicyt [Fondecyt] [11160031]
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Improving eco-efficiency of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) has been identified as being essential for achieving urban sustainability. Several previous papers have evaluated the eco-efficiency of WWTPs using data envelopment analysis (DEA) models. However, those models provided only a static assessment in that they ignored possible fluctuations over time within each plant. To overcome this temporal limitation, this paper evaluates dynamic eco-efficiency (changes in eco-productivity over time) of WWTPs using the dynamic weighted Russell directional distance model (WRDDM). This approach allows one to obtain an eco-productivity change index for each major component of the WRDDM model (costs, pollutants removal, and greenhouse gas emissions). Our results illustrate that although eco-productivity improved in half of the WWTPs we assessed, there was still potential for improving some eco-efficiency components. Moreover, operational costs and greenhouse gases emissions were the main drivers reducing eco-productivity. This paper demonstrates the importance of evaluating change in eco-productivity over time and in identifying the drivers associated with those changes, both of which can be used to support decision-making focused on the sustainability of WWTPs.
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