Journal ArticleDOI
Socio-technical transitions in water scarcity contexts: Public acceptance of greywater reuse technologies in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona
Laia Domènech,David Saurí +1 more
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TLDR
A survey of 120 greywater users and in-depth interviews with the main actors of the water sector was conducted in the town of Sant Cugat del Valles, in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona.Abstract:
Greywater reuse systems are becoming more and more common in the new multi-storey buildings of the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. A main driver of this trend has been the recent approval of ambitious local regulations aimed at saving water and using decentralised, alternative resources in a context of growing scarcity. Users must assume new responsibilities in water management and new capacities need to be developed at the very micro level to attain a successful implementation of these regulations. A survey of 120 greywater users and in-depth interviews with the main actors of the water sector was conducted in the town of Sant Cugat del Valles, in the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona. The municipality's six years experience on greywater use provided an exceptional opportunity to assess community perceptions during the socio-technical transition process. Sant Cugat was the first municipality in Spain that enforced the installation of such systems in new buildings. Results show that the perception of health risks, operation regimes, perceived costs and environmental awareness are, in different degrees, significant determinants of public acceptance. The main institutional, technical, and economic challenges that need to be addressed during the ongoing socio-technical transition process are also explored. Improving the level of knowledge of these systems among users would reduce the risk of social refusal of the new technology. Public authorities and implementers need to stimulate social learning processes with specific actions and build trust among residents in the new governance network if decentralised and alternative water supply systems are to find a place in the everyday life of urban populations.read more
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Importance of Actors and Agency in Sustainability Transitions: A Systematic Exploration of the Literature
Lisa-Britt Fischer,Jens Newig +1 more
TL;DR: The authors explored the role of actors and agency in the literature on sustainability transitions and found that actor roles in transitions are erratic, since their roles can change over the course of time, and that actors can belong to different categories.
Journal ArticleDOI
A review of greywater characteristics and treatment processes.
TL;DR: The presence of xenobiotic organic compounds (XOC), which are hazardous micropollutants in GW, is emphasised and it is recommended that future studies look at chemical treatment, especially AOPs that have been found to be successful at mineralising recalcitrant organic compounds in wastewater.
Journal ArticleDOI
Cities and Systemic Change for Sustainability: Prevailing Epistemologies and an Emerging Research Agenda
Marc Wolfram,Niki Frantzeskaki +1 more
TL;DR: In this paper, the authors identify and scrutinize the principal fields involved, asking for their respective normative orientation, interdisciplinary constitution, theories and methods used, and empirical basis to provide orientations for future research.
Journal ArticleDOI
Cost-efficiency of rainwater harvesting strategies in dense Mediterranean neighbourhoods
TL;DR: In this article, a case study consisting of a neighbourhood of dense social housing (600 inhabitants/ha) with multi-storey buildings is presented, where four strategies are defined according to the spatial scale of implementation and the moment of RWH infrastructure construction.
Journal ArticleDOI
Greywater use in Israel and worldwide: Standards and prospects
Gideon Oron,Michael E. Adel,Vered Agmon,Eran Friedler,Rami Halperin,Ehud Leshem,Daniel Weinberg +6 more
TL;DR: Greywater (GW) can serve as a solution for water demands especially in arid and semi-arid zones, however, issues considered which include acceptability of GW segregation as a separate water treated stream, allowing its use onsite are not considered.
References
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