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Against the background of drastically rising global water demand and increasing pollution and overexploitation of regional water resources, the demand-driven water supply of households and industry is of central importance. Water reuse and desalination are seen as key technologies to overcome potential regional and local water shortage. In the joint projects funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) ‘Future-oriented Technologies and Concepts to Increase Water Availability by Water Reuse and Desalination (WavE)’, evaluation approaches for analysing innovative technologies and concepts are being developed and assessed. All evaluation methods and criteria used were selected based on the decision situation at hand and the decision-makeŕs preferences. Based on the analysis of six multi-criteria evaluation concepts used in selected WavE projects, this paper presents a general approach for comparative multi-criteria evaluation of water reuse systems consisting of prerequisites, minimum requirements, evaluation criteria (qualitative, semi-quantitative or quantitative) and a final aggregation of results. Exemplary sets of criteria for the application in a more industrial, municipal and/or international context are presented as an aid for the application of holistic evaluation approaches for (process) concept and technology selection in the context of water reuse and desalination.

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<p>Pakistan is the world’s fourth-largest producer of cotton. A major share of textiles sold in Germany is produced in Pakistan. The irrigation of cotton plants as well as dyeing and finishing processes during textile production require tremendous amounts of water. In addition, rivers, soil and groundwater are lastingly polluted by salinization, intensive use of pesticides and fertilizers in cotton farming as well as discharge of untreated waste water by textile companies.</p><p>The main focus of the InoCottonGROW project, funded by German BMBF, is to address this complex, multidisciplinary water management problem in the region of Lower Chenab Canal in Punjab. Hydrologists, engineers, political scientists, ethnologists and economists on the scientific as well as on the stakeholder side, are working together towards identifying technically, economically and institutionally feasible ways of increasing the efficiency of water use along the cotton-textile value chain in Pakistan.</p><p>A more sustainable water resource management is aimed to be achieved by a suite of measures on a technical and organizational level. Some of the technical measures like alternative irrigation techniques are experienced in applied studies within the project. Project activities include:</p><ul><li>application of the water footprint concept as a regional steering instrument for national decision makers, manufacturers, retailers, and consumers</li> <li>analysis of the current state of water efficiency, water quality, and concurrent usages in Pakistan using a combination of satellite remote sensing, field-site studies, hydrologic and hydraulic modelling, company surveys and monitoring</li> <li>demonstration of efficient technologies along the cotton-textile value chain, including efficient cotton irrigation, dyes and process chemicals, textile machinery, suitable wastewater treatment processes, and analytical instruments for water pollution monitoring</li> </ul><p>Results of the practical investigations of these different approaches on field level are finally evaluated with respect to their contribution to achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals. The systematic approach to link regionally collected and modeled data with national water management indicators will be described following a stepwise approach:</p><ol><li>definition of management scenarios in order to indicate potential changes in future irrigation practices and waste water treatment</li> <li>qualitative assessment approach based on an established scheme by the International Council for science (ICSU, 2017) to analyze the impact on selected SDGs by these management scenarios</li> <li>quantitative assessment of the impact on selected SDG indicators (such as indicator 6.4.2: Level of water stress) starting with hydrological modelling of water availability and water demand on a local scale and up-scaling these simulation results</li> </ol><p><strong>References</strong></p><p>International Council for Science 2017 A Guide to SDG Interactions: from Science to Implementation. ICSU, Paris.</p>

Treated wastewater is expected to constitute an essential part of the urban water cycle as an additional water resource in water-scarce or densely populated regions in the future. As decisions on the implementation of water recycling measures should always consider local conditions, the project ‘MULTI-ReUse: Modular treatment and monitoring for wastewater reuse’ has developed a comprehensive sustainability assessment tool, designed to support decision-makers in examining the technical feasibility, economic viability, ecological compatibility and social acceptance of alternative service water supply solutions at local level. This article describes the structure of this sustainability assessment tool and its underlying multi-criteria assessment approach based on 23 evaluation criteria. Already in the development phase, the tool was tested in a German and a Namibian case study. Both case studies are presented with a special focus on the technologies used and the results of the analysis with the sustainability assessment tool. Case study testing proved that the tool is applicable in various environmental and societal settings with widely differing climatic conditions, limited resource availability, for varying feed water qualities and water quality requirements. The comprehensive, straightforward assessment approach enabled the local users to identify the most sustainable supply system or strategy for their decision case.