The “Water Smartness and Sustainability Index” for Assessment of Water Smartness and Sustainability of Wastewater Resource Recovery Solutions

Resource recovery from wastewater can play a key role in progressing towards achieving the UN sustainable development goals. Water Europe advocates the transition to a Water-smart society and points to circular economy solutions as key to achieving this vision. Water smartness and sustainability have several facets and must therefore be evaluated in a holistic manner. In this study the “Water Smartness & Sustainability Index” is presented. This new multicriteria index enables a transparent and structured ranking of alternative solutions and aids a decision maker in finding the most water-smart and sustainable solution. Development of the index and results from its testing on different cases will be presented. The study is part of the H2020 project WIDER UPTAKE, (2020–2024) where a framework for assessment of water smartness and sustainability of symbiotic circular economy solutions has been developed and tested on demonstration cases in 5 countries. The solutions demonstrated include both solutions for reuse of wastewater and for various use of resources recovered from the wastewater.