Assessment of social impacts of water demand management policies on wastewater system by using SLCA method

Water demand management policies (WDMPs) are being proposed as a solution to water scarcity. Applying any of WDMPs can have far-reaching consequences even on the urban infrastructures like wastewater systems. However, studies on the effects of WDMPs often focused on the water sector, and there is a research gap in the wastewater section. Therefore, in this study, the impact of the application of WDMPs on sewage systems from a social point of view has been evaluated during different scenarios of demand reduction. For this purpose, the Social Life Cycle Assessment (SLCA) method, which is a subset of life cycle thinking, has been used. In this regard, Baharestan city (located in Isfahan province) is selected. The groups (stakeholders) affected by the social effects of WDMPs on wastewater systems have been identified and their characteristics have been determined. Stakeholders are social and local community, workers and consumers. Then, by compiling a questionnaire and using the opinion of experts in this field, the Analytic Hierarchy Process (AHP) method has been used for scoring. Then, taking into account the intensity of the effects of each indicator in each scenario, the social score of all scenarios is obtained. The results show that social and local community has the biggest weight than other stakeholders (wight of 0.45), and safe and healthy living condition is the most important indicator of it. Also, the scenario that has the least decline in water consumption and sewage production is socially better than others.