![A comparative evaluation of money-based and energy-based cost-benefit analyses of tertiary municipal wastewater treatment using forested wetlands vs. ... [An article from: Ecological Economics]](https://www.ebooknetworking.net/books/B00/0RQ/bigB000RQZI22.jpg)
A comparative evaluation of money-based and energy-based cost-benefit analyses of tertiary municipal wastewater treatment using forested wetlands vs. ... [An article from: Ecological Economics]
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Forested wetlands have been used to provide advanced secondary and tertiary treatment for municipal wastewater for a number of cities in southern Louisiana. Wetland assimilation provides the same services as conventional methods in improving wastewater quality, while having positive impacts on wetlands. Suspended solids and nutrients in wastewater increase net primary productivity (NPP), which leads to increased organic soil formation. This leads to increased elevation that offsets subsidence, a major cause of coastal wetland loss in Louisiana. The City of Breaux Bridge, LA, has discharged secondarily treated municipal wastewater into a forested wetland since 1950, and wetland assimilation was permitted by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) in 1997. We compared benefits and costs of utilizing forested wetlands and conventional sand treatment using money-based and energy-based cost-benefit analyses (CBA). The wetland method had a higher benefit-cost ratio than conventional treatment by 6.0 times based on dollar-based CBA, and by 21.7 times from the energy analysis. Methodologically, dollar-based CBA is a market price-based assessment, liming to an anthropocentric framework, while embodied energy analysis accounts for monetary and nonmonetary values such as carbon sequestration by wetlands, which contributes a more complete assessment of the interaction between the natural environment and the human economy. Wetlands treat more wastewater per unit of energy and with less financial cost than conventional methods, because the wetland method utilizes natural energies such as sunlight, wind and rain, while conventional treatment methods depend on imported nonrenewable energies and materials such as chemicals and electricity and require additional capital investment. Increasing application of natural energies is becoming more important with depleting fossil fuels. Further, wastewater addition increases NPP and wetland elevation, which has potential for wetland mitigation credit.
Description:
Forested wetlands have been used to provide advanced secondary and tertiary treatment for municipal wastewater for a number of cities in southern Louisiana. Wetland assimilation provides the same services as conventional methods in improving wastewater quality, while having positive impacts on wetlands. Suspended solids and nutrients in wastewater increase net primary productivity (NPP), which leads to increased organic soil formation. This leads to increased elevation that offsets subsidence, a major cause of coastal wetland loss in Louisiana. The City of Breaux Bridge, LA, has discharged secondarily treated municipal wastewater into a forested wetland since 1950, and wetland assimilation was permitted by the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and the US Environmental Protection Agency (US EPA) in 1997. We compared benefits and costs of utilizing forested wetlands and conventional sand treatment using money-based and energy-based cost-benefit analyses (CBA). The wetland method had a higher benefit-cost ratio than conventional treatment by 6.0 times based on dollar-based CBA, and by 21.7 times from the energy analysis. Methodologically, dollar-based CBA is a market price-based assessment, liming to an anthropocentric framework, while embodied energy analysis accounts for monetary and nonmonetary values such as carbon sequestration by wetlands, which contributes a more complete assessment of the interaction between the natural environment and the human economy. Wetlands treat more wastewater per unit of energy and with less financial cost than conventional methods, because the wetland method utilizes natural energies such as sunlight, wind and rain, while conventional treatment methods depend on imported nonrenewable energies and materials such as chemicals and electricity and require additional capital investment. Increasing application of natural energies is becoming more important with depleting fossil fuels. Further, wastewater addition increases NPP and wetland elevation, which has potential for wetland mitigation credit.
