The Selection of Wastewater Treatment Units Based on Analytical Hierarchical Process

Nowadays, various recognized technologies exist for the treatment of municipal wastewater. Each technology has its own advantages and limitations depending on appropriateness to fulfill the desired requirements. In this study, an effort is made to use the MCDM tool to select the most appropriate technology for municipal wastewater treatment in a small to medium city, where availability of land is not a major constraint. The Analytical hierarchy process (AHP) has been used as a decision-making tool, the expert opinions and judgments are used to assign quantitative and qualitative weights to different criterion and sub-criterion. The available options were compared based on three main criteria, i.e., economical aspects, technological aspects, and environmental and health aspects, and thirteen sub-criteria. In the present scenario in India, the three simple and effective treatment technologies were used in this study: (A) Trickling filter system (B) Waste stabilization pond system, and (C) Activated sludge process. The AHP analysis on three options revealed that the waste stabilization pond technology is an appropriate technology with the highest priority value of 40% among the other options.