Decentralized Wastewater Management in India: Stakeholder Views on Best Available Technologies and Resource Recovery

Abstract

Three workshops with representatives of stakeholders from academia, business, civil society and government in India were organized in Chennai, Kolkata, and Mumbai with the aim to identify and elaborate on key barriers to resource recovery in wastewater treatment (WWT). A structured questionnaire was designed to capture the views of participating stakeholders. Using a new Mathematica function, namely, Around, the responses of the representatives of each stakeholder were aggregated to an approximate number representing that stakeholder’s view. Overall, the stakeholder consensus on WWT technologies was rather conservative, with a focus on the functioning of WWT. Concerning the drivers and barriers for resource recovery and policies to support the implementation of recycling technologies in WWT, stakeholders expected government action to drive recycling. A social network analysis identified potential conflicts between the stakeholder groups.