Department of Applied Economics II, Universitat de Valencia, Campus dels Tarongers, 46022 Valencia, Spain.
J Environ Manage. 2011 Dec;92(12):3091-7. doi: 10.1016/j.jenvman.2011.07.023.
Water reuse is an emerging and promising non-conventional water resource. Feasibility studies are essential tools in the decision making process for the implementation of water-reuse projects. However, the methods used to assess economic feasibility tend to focus on internal costs, while external impacts are relegated to unsubstantiated statements about the advantages of water reuse. Using the concept of shadow prices for undesirable outputs of water reclamation, the current study developed a theoretical methodology to assess internal and external economic impacts. The proposed methodological approach is applied to 13 wastewater treatment plants in the Valencia region of Spain that reuse effluent for environmental purposes. Internal benefit analyses indicated that only a proportion of projects were economically viable, while when external benefits are incorporated all projects were economically viable. In conclusion, the economic feasibility assessments of water-reuse projects should quantitatively evaluate economic, environmental and resource availability.
水的再利用是一种新兴且有前景的非常规水资源。可行性研究是再利用项目实施决策过程中的重要工具。然而，用于评估经济可行性的方法往往侧重于内部成本，而外部影响则被归结为关于水再利用优势的没有根据的陈述。本研究利用污水再利用不良产出的影子价格的概念，开发了一种评估内部和外部经济影响的理论方法。所提出的方法学方法应用于西班牙巴伦西亚地区的 13 个将废水用于环境目的的污水处理厂。内部效益分析表明，只有一部分项目在经济上可行，而当纳入外部效益时，所有项目在经济上都是可行的。总之，水再利用项目的经济可行性评估应定量评估经济、环境和资源的可用性。
