Comparative evaluation of cost for preliminary and tertiary municipal wastewater treatment plants in Istanbul

Abstract As the global economy continues to grow, the need for an economic evaluation of wastewater treatment plants (WWTPs) is increasing. Determination of cost functions (CFs) help to assess the costs of WWTP and to be able to reach to the satisfactory financial levels of construction and operation practices in the early phases of a project. In this study, unit capital and operation and maintenance (OM O&M costs had the highest share (58%) in tertiary WWTPs. The results of this study confirmed that the level of treatment considerably affected the costs of WWTPs. Moreover, the CFs were separately derived for tertiary treatment including A2O with and without digester. The CFs obtained in this study are of utmost importance to be used in the economic evaluation of the planned WWTPs and in the management of existing ones.