Multi-criteria decision analysis for sustainability assessment of decentralised water treatment systems (DWTS) in developing countries.

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Even though access to safe drinking water and sanitation has been recognised by the United Nations as a human right, providing universal access to basic needs is still an important challenge of today, and as such was set as one of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. Small-scale systems for water treatment can contribute to the provision of safe water in areas not served by conventional systems, such as rural or peri-urban areas. However, this context can prove itself challenging due to availability of resources, organisational support, among other critical factors. The observed moderate success of these systems derives from some important criteria not being met. The constraints that threaten the long-term functionality of the local schemes are not necessarily related to performance of the technologies, but to a series of influential factors of environmental, technical, governmental, economic or social nature. The aim of this project is to develop a decision-support framework to assess sustainability of decentralised, small-scale water treatment systems in the context of developing countries. The study will carefully investigate the multidisciplinary factors that affect the sustainability in this context. Integrating different sustainability factors such as economic, environmental and especially social aspects is crucial for providing a more comprehensive evaluation. Some well-established assessment methodologies such as Life Cycle Analysis or Cost-Benefit Analysis do not consider socioeconomic factors and would not provide a good sustainability evaluation in this context. This project will integrate different aspects using Multi-criteria Decision Analysis (MCDA) in order to simultaneously evaluate different criteria and their quantitative and qualitative attributes in one universal and holistic decision support framework, focusing on ensuring high acceptance of the decision-making process by stakeholders. The applicability of this framework will be evaluated by case studies in developing countries, where real systems will be assessed in order to find the best available alternative. The decision support tool will then provide support to stakeholders in deciding the best way forward, and hopefully helping to bring us closer to universal access to safe drinking water.