Numerous technological advances have improved water treatment for increasingly complex waters. Advances in membrane processes, advanced oxidation, and biological processes, as well as the development of novel adsorbents, ion exchange resins, and catalysts have provided opportunities to desalinate water, remove trace contaminants, and consider use of marginal quality water sources for rural and urban demand. Usually, technology selection for particular source waters focuses predominantly on technoeconomic considerations. This limited approach often fails to provide palatable and/or potable water, especially in rural communities. We developed a framework for evaluating water technologies that includes social, institutional, and operational considerations in addition to technoeconomic factors. In addition to technical performance metrics, we ask, “Does it make sense to utilize this technology for this application in this geographic region considering the organizational and institutional culture (e.g., institutional knowledge, workforce capacity, pre-existing infrastructure, supply chain limitations, consumer preference, growth trajectories)?<br/>The system of systems approach (SoS) employed here considers multiple autonomous systems whose combined interactions create a different, more complex system (i.e., a system of systems). Here, we classify the SoS to two systems - the technical system and the organizational system. The example to be used to illustrate the SoS approach is brackish water sources for agriculture. The technical potential and chemistry-related challenges of a novel membrane system developed by the authors for reducing total dissolved solid and boron concentrations to levels that do not inhibit crop yields is described. The SoS framework is then applied using semi-quantitative analysis of data from literature and semi-structured interviews with agricultural sector stakeholders to assess the technical resiliency and social legitimacy of the technology. The information gleaned can guide scientists, engineers, regulators, and farmers in reducing the technological and social barriers for sustainable technology adoption.

System of systems approach for evaluating water treatment technologies: Brackish water desalination and boron removal

ACS Spring 2022

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