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Cost Savings in Wastewater Treatment Processes: the Role of Environmental and Operational Drivers

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Abstract

In this study, 139 Tuscan Wastewater Treatment Plants (WWTPs) were analyzed with the aim of evaluating their efficiency and highlighting the main efficiency drivers, as well as distinguishing among wastewater features, WWTP technology, other features of WWTPs, output variables, and sludge disposal. From a methodological point of view, the proposed method includes an ordinary least squares analysis of total plant costs regressed on a set of 28 exogenous variables and a two-stage Data Envelopment Analysis model, where efficiency scores are obtained through weight restrictions. Moreover, the results of this study demonstrate that, with the exception of the “other features of WWTPs”, all other clusters of variables exert a negative effect on cost savings; in other words, larger scale of operations and higher usage of the productive capacity (grouped as “other features of WWTPs”) can improve cost efficiency.

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Acknowledgements

This research was partially supported by the University of Pisa (PRA 2016 Project) and EACEA (Erasmus + Jean Monnet Module European Water Utility Management (EWUM, project 2014-1288).

The authors are grateful to the anonymous referees for their valuable comments and suggestions. The authors would like to thank the Acque SpA and Ingegnerie Toscane Srl for their precious help in collecting data and participants of the “International Seminar on European Water Utility Management” held in Pisa the 3rd of June 2015, who provided insight and expertise that greatly assisted the research.

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Correspondence to L. Carosi.

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Guerrini, A., Romano, G., Carosi, L. et al. Cost Savings in Wastewater Treatment Processes: the Role of Environmental and Operational Drivers. Water Resour Manage 31, 2465–2478 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-017-1586-9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11269-017-1586-9

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