Understanding the Cost Factors of Wastewater Treatment & Disposal

COMPARATIVE COSTS OF CLUSTER, SATELLITE, AND
CENTRALIZED FACILITIES
To compare the costs of different sizes of wastewater treatment facilities,
the capital costs of 24 wastewater treatment facilities and the O&M costs
from 21 facilities were analyzed. The capital costs of each wastewater
treatment facility was calculated as the sum of:
• Basic construction costs for collection, transport to the treatment
facility, treatment, transport to disposal, and disposal;
• Cost of engineering, planning, design, permitting, legal
expenses, and a contingency for unexpected construction items;
and
• Land costs, based on the nature and extent of the facilities.
The costs of O&M included labor, electricity, chemicals, laboratory analysis,
repairs, equipment replacement, and administrative costs, including
insurance and sludge disposal. Unit costs were computed by dividing
construction costs and O&M by the associated wastewater flow.
The results, shown in Table UCF-1, clearly demonstrate that construction
and O&M costs decline significantly as the system wastewater capacity
increases. For more detailed information, see Figures 3 and 4 in the Barnstable
County Cost Report.
TABLE UCF-1: Unit Construction and O&M Costs by Capacity (in gallons
per day; gpd)
CAPACITY UNIT CONSTRUCTION COST UNIT O&M COSTS
10,000 gpd $70 per gpd of capacity $13 per gpd of average flow
100,000 gpd $35 per gpd of capacity $5 per gpd of average flow
1,000,000 gpd $17 per gpd of capacity $2 per gpd of average flow
SOURCE: Barnstable County Wastewater Cost Task Force, “Comparison of Costs for Wastewater
Management Systems Applicable to Cape Cod,” April 2010.
REGIONAL WASTEWATER MANAGEMENT PLAN | UNDERSTANDING COST FACTORS 5