A comprehensive sustainability index for the assessment of water and sanitation management systems (WSMS) is presented. The index was based on a conceptual framework that perceives sustainability as a combination of territorial, temporal, and personal aspects. A set of sustainability indicators was selected in agreement within this framework, and the ‘Water and Sanitation Sustainability Index’ (WASSI) was built. The WASSI was used to assess the sustainability of the WSMS of the city of Salta, Argentina. Indicators were calculated from information gathered by several means including literature reviews, questionnaires, visits, and participatory workshops. The index was sensitive to detect variations between different aspects of the local WSMS. It was also relatively independent to the quantity and quality of the information available. The WASSI could be a useful tool to assess and improve sustainability of water and sanitation throughout the management systems.
A water and sanitation sustainability index (WASSI) was developed and estimated in four cities of the province of Salta, in northern Argentina. The index was built with nine descriptors and fifteen indicators that covered all essential aspects of the sustainability of local water and sanitation management systems. Only one of the cities studied obtained a sustainability value above the acceptability threshold adopted (50 of 100 points). Results indicate that the water company needs to address some environmental and social issues to enhance the sustainability of the systems studied. The WASSI was conceptually robust and operationally simple, and could be easily adapted to the case studies. The index can be followed and updated online on a web site specially developed for this project. This website could be useful to promote participatory processes, assist decision makers, and facilitate academic research. According to local stakeholders, a more open sustainability assessment based on sustainability indices and supported by virtual tools would be relevant and highly feasible. It would help decision makers improve the sustainability and transparency of water and sanitation management systems, and promote more sustainable water policies in the region and beyond. OPEN ACCESSSustainability 2015, 7 14538
The Water Safety Plan (WSP) for the city of Salta (Argentina) is presented and discussed. To develop this WSP, we used an adapted version of the methodology proposed by the World Health Organization (WHO). The new method included a preliminary weighting procedure to assess the relative importance of different parts of the system, and a more systematic estimation of the magnitude of control measures. These modifications allowed the definition of a variety of risk reduction strategies. The risk assessment step was performed during participatory workshops with members of the local water company. The Initial Risk for the entire system was 30.2%, with variations among processes, subprocesses and components. More than 60% of the hazardous situations identified require control measures to reduce the risk below an acceptable threshold. If all control measures were successfully implemented, the Final Risk could be lowered to 17.7%. Methodological changes introduced allowed a more detailed analysis of the risks and can be an important improvement of the assessment procedure.
The use of treated, diluted, and even raw domestic wastewater for agricultural irrigation is becoming an essential component of a more sustainable and integrated water resources management, especially in water-scarce regions. More than 20 million hectares are currently being irrigated with wastewater worldwide by about 200 million farmers. This paper provides an overview of some developments in the field of water reuse in agriculture, with a specific focus on Latin America, where this practice is rapidly growing. It also summarizes the benefits and risks of (treated) wastewater irrigation and discusses some of its social, cultural, institutional, and political aspects. The paper also highlights a number of technical, social, environmental, and political challenges that deserve special attention and further research. The use of (treated) wastewater in agriculture has great potential but cannot be dealt with in isolation from local, regional, and global water and sanitation management systems.
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