The benefits of circular economy strategies in urban water facilities.

Circular economy has become a very popular item in the last decades in many fields. Particularly, in the water and wastewater sector, since a lot of pressure has been put on water resources. Although the main target of the application of circular economy in this sector has been waste management, the current research intends to extend its application to other aspects. In this sense, it is highlighted the role that asset management could play in wastewater treatments plants extending the useful life of the equipment and the facilities, and how it could contribute to the circular economy, measuring the impact in economic and environmental terms. Making use of the Analytical Hierarchy Process (AHP) it can be observed that maintenance tasks are one of the most important factors to avoid equipment deterioration. This research offers valuable results that will be useful to assess the condition of the equipment helping the decision-makers to optimize the maintenance tasks and plan replacement strategies that will lead to accomplishing the principles of circular economy, increasing the service life span of the equipment, and reducing the repairing costs, and minimizing the environmental impact associated to the replacement of the equipment.
Competing Interests: Declaration of competing interest The authors of the manuscript, entitled THE BENEFITS OF CIRCULAR ECONOMY STRATEGIES IN URBAN WATER FACILITIES, whose names are listed immediately below certify that they have NO affiliations with or involvement in any organization or entity with any financial interest (such as honoraria, educational grants, participation in speakers' bureaus, membership, employment, consultancies, stock ownership, or other equity interest, and expert testimony or patent-licensing arrangements), or non-financial interest (such as personal or professional relationships, affiliations, knowledge or beliefs) in the subject matter or materials discussed in this manuscript.
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