Interlocking concrete paving blocks made with treated wastewater

Abstract

Saving water of better quality for more important uses is critical in the context of preventing water scarcity. Prominent in this sense is the need to study not only the technical aspects involving environmentally conscious consumption, but also the acceptance of users, since appropriate technologies are of little value if they are not assimilated. Therefore, this work aimed to evaluate how well users accepted interlocking concrete paving blocks produced with treated wastewater rather than drinking water. To this end, questionnaires were administered to members of the faculty, student body and staff of a school of civil engineering, architecture and urban design in the city of Campinas (SP/Brazil), resulting in 238 answers. It was found that 79% of participants identified no visual differences between conventional paving blocks and those produced with treated wastewater, and that 96.6% were willing to use such blocks in outdoor areas of future construction work. On the other hand, there was a reduction in the acceptance of the paving blocks for use in indoor areas and the respondents’ own homes. Hence, even though its results were largely positive, this survey raised a few points of attention regarding the acceptance of the technology in question.