Publications / CCC 2025 - Zadar, Croatia

INITIAL COST ANALYSIS OF A NEW WASTEWATER TREATMENT APPROACH

Bibhas Bhattacharjee Tamoy, Mohamed Abdel-Raheem
Pages 756-762 (CCC 2025 - Zadar, Croatia, ISBN 978-1-7643710-0-1, ISSN 2413-5844)
Abstract:

Conventional wastewater management systems incur substantial costs due to the uniform treatment of all household effluent, regardless of its contamination level. In typical residential plumbing, greywater (GW) and blackwater (BW) are combined and directed to centralized treatment facilities, where both are processed as high-strength wastewater. This approach overlooks the relatively low pollutant load of GW, which can be treated at lower cost for non-potable reuse. This study proposes a source-separation system that isolates GW at the point of generation and routes it to an in-house recycling unit, thereby reducing the volume of wastewater requiring intensive treatment. A life cycle cost (LCC) analysis, based on NIST standards, reveals potential savings of up to 29% compared to conventional systems, primarily due to decreased treatment loads and reduced BW infrastructure requirements. The results underscore the economic advantages of decentralized, differentiated treatment in residential wastewater management.

Keywords: Economic Analysis, Greywater, Life Cycle Cost Analysis, Sustainability, Water Savings, Wastewater Treatment.