Socioeconomic constraints on the technological choices in rural sewage treatment

• Published in: Environmental science and pollution research international 2016-10, Vol.23 (20), p.20360-20367
• Main Authors: Gu, Baojing, Fan, Liangcong, Ying, Zechun, Xu, Qingshan, Luo, Weidong, Ge, Ying, Scott, Steffanie, Chang, Jie
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Aquatic Pollution; Artificial wetlands; Atmospheric Protection/Air Quality Control/Air Pollution; Biogas; Case studies; Chemical oxygen demand; China; Earth and Environmental Science; Economic development; Economics; Ecotoxicology; Environment; Environmental Chemistry; Environmental governance; Environmental Health; Environmental impact; Environmental monitoring; Environmental quality; Environmental science; GDP; Gross Domestic Product; Humans; Opportunity costs; Pallets; Pollutants; Pollution; Public good; Research Article; Rivers; Rural areas; Rural Population; Sewage - analysis; Sewage treatment; Sewage treatment plants; Socioeconomic factors; Socioeconomics; Studies; Technological change; Technology; Waste Management - economics; Waste Management - methods; Waste Water - analysis; Waste Water - economics; Waste Water Technology; Wastewater treatment plants; Water Management; Water pollution; Water Pollution Control; Water quality; Water treatment; Wetlands
• ISSN: 0944-1344; 1614-7499
• DOI: 10.1007/s11356-016-7267-z

Technological innovation is one of the potential engines to mitigate environmental pollution. However, the implementation of new technologies sometimes fails owing to socioeconomic constraints from different stakeholders. Thus, it is essential to analyze constraints of environmental technologies in order to build a pathway for their implementation. In this study, taking three technologies on rural sewage treatment in Hangzhou, China as a case study, i.e., wastewater treatment plant (WTP), constructed wetland (CW), and biogas system, we analyzed how socioeconomic constraints affect the technological choices. Results showed that socioeconomic constraints play a key role through changing the relative opportunity cost of inputs from government as compared to that of residents to deliver the public good—sewage treatment—under different economic levels. Economic level determines the technological choice, and the preferred sewage treatment technologies change from biogas system to CW and further to WTP along with the increase of economic level. Mismatch of technological choice and economic level results in failures of rural sewage treatment, e.g., the CW only work well in moderately developed regions in Hangzhou. This finding expands the environmental Kuznets law by introducing the coproduction theory into analysis (i.e., inputs from both government and residents are essential for the delivery of public goods and services such as good environmental quality). A match between technology and socioeconomic conditions is essential to the environmental governance.