The Investment Risk in Sewage Treatment Plants Using the ELECTRE III Method

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the main wastewater treatment plants (WWTP) of Romania and to rank them in terms of operating performance (efficiency and economy) in 2011. Six municipal wastewater treatment plants in Romania were taken into account: Constanţa Sud WWTP, Mangalia WWTP, Arad WWTP, Cluj-Napoca WWTP, Constanţa Nord WWTP and Cernavodă WWTP. The multiple criteria selected were the volume of water treated (m3), operating expenses (lei), electric energy consumption (KWh), specific costs (lei/m3) which were used to rank WWTPs using the ELECTRE III method. It was found that top ranked WWTPs in terms of performance are those where significant investments were made for retechnologization and upgrade.