Life cycle-based decision support tool for selection of wastewater treatment alternatives

We report the development and application of a user-friendly, scenario-based decision support tool (TechSelect 1.0). The objective of the study focuses on implementation of the 'scenario-based' multiple attributes decision-making (MADM) approach recently proposed by Kalbar et al. (2012a). The tool incorporates multiple scenarios to deal with complex decision-making situations typically encountered in urban, suburban and rural areas. The scenario-based decision-making implemented through the tool reduces complexity in the selection of the appropriate wastewater treatment technology. It also uses a life cycle sustainability assessment framework for assessing technologies from environmental (life cycle assessment), economic (life cycle costing) and social (various sustainability indicators) perspectives. In addition, a user-friendly computational platform has been provided for the convenience of end users and stakeholders. The tool has been tested and validated on two real-life case studies pertaining to the problem of decision-making under complex situations. The results clearly explain the technology selection process and justify the simplicity of the tool in both the case studies. The proposed tool will broaden the application of scenario-based decision-making approaches in wastewater management.