Dubber, Donata and Pilla, Francesca and Smyth, David and Qazi, Nadeem and McCarthy, Tim and Gill, Laurence W. (2014) Development of a geographic information system-based decision support toolset to assess the feasibility of on-site wastewater treatment and disposal options in low permeability subsoils. Water Science & Technology, 70 (3). pp. 464-471. ISSN 0273-1223

Preview

Download (421kB) | Preview

Abstract

Traditional on-site wastewater treatment systems have proven to be unsuitable in areas of low permeability subsoils, representing a risk to human health and the environment. With large areas being covered by low permeability tills, Ireland needs to consider alternative treatment and disposal options to be able to allow further development in these areas and to deal with polluting legacy sites. The paper describes the development and structure of a geographic information system (GIS)-based decision support toolset to evaluate possible alternative strategies for these sites. The programme takes as its initial input the location of an existing house located in an area of low permeability subsoils. Through a series of interconnected GIS geoprocesses the model outputs appropriate solutions for a site, ranking them in terms of environmental sustainability and cost. However, the final decisions are still dependent on on-site constraints so that each solution is accompanied by an alert message that provides additional information for the user to refine the output list according to the available local site-specific information.

Item Type:	Article
Keywords:	decision support; domestic wastewater treatment; effluent disposal; geospatial modelling; septic tank; subsoil permeability;
Academic Unit:	Faculty of Science and Engineering > Research Institutes > Hamilton Institute Faculty of Science and Engineering > Research Institutes > National Centre for Geocomputation, NCG
Item ID:	10217
Identification Number:	https://doi.org/10.2166/wst.2014.244
Depositing User:	Tim McCarthy
Date Deposited:	15 Nov 2018 16:26
Journal or Publication Title:	Water Science & Technology
Publisher:	IWA Publishing
Refereed:	Yes
Funders:	Environmental Protection Agency, Ireland (EPA)
URI:	https://iwaponline.com/wst/
Use Licence:	This item is available under a Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial Share Alike Licence (CC BY-NC-SA). Details of this licence are available here

Repository Staff Only(login required)

Item control page

Downloads

Origin of downloads