Construction of an evaluation system for the effectiveness of rural sewage treatment facilities and empirical research

IntroductionRural domestic sewage treatment is an important starting point to improve the quality of the rural ecological environment, an important part of new rural construction, and an inherent requirement to promote rural economic development. The operation of rural sewage treatment facilities is not good, and there is a lack of long-term operation guarantees and supervision mechanisms. It is urgent to carry out research on the evaluation index system, evaluation method, and evaluation benchmark of the operational effectiveness of rural sewage treatment facilities.MethodsThis article used rural sewage treatment facilities in a city in northern China as the research object and constructed an evaluation method for the operational effectiveness of rural sewage treatment facilities. This study selected evaluation indexes from three perspectives, namely, economy, technology, and management, which are divided into two stages, namely, planning and operation. A judgment matrix was constructed using the analytic hierarchy process (AHP), and index weights were calculated using Yaahp10.3 software to determine the evaluation criteria. Fifteen rural sewage treatment plant stations were selected to evaluate their planning and operation effectiveness.ResultsThe results of the weight assignment show that the weight of the COD removal rate, operating load rate, and operating cost indexes are high, which is in line with the actual evaluation of the effectiveness of rural sewage treatment facilities at different stages. The empirical calculation results showed that the rural sewage treatment facilities have a comprehensive score of more than 80 points in 7 cases and 60–80 points in 8 cases, with an average score of 79.05 points; the overall performance of the score in the operation stage was better than that in the planning stage, and the overall operation effect was good.DiscussionThe calculation results were consistent with the actual operation, verifying the scientific nature and availability of the selected indices, the evaluation method constructed, and the evaluation benchmark determined. The research results can provide technical methods for evaluating the operational effectiveness of rural sewage treatment facilities in similar areas and provide technical support for the planning, design, optimization, upgrading, and transformation of rural sewage treatment plants.