Moving beyond techno-economic considerations: incorporating organizational constraints into fit-for-use technologies

Abstract

Many sectors are threatened by water stress, creating a pressing need to explore the use of alternative water sources or water reuse. There has been an increase in innovative water treatment technologies to leverage such sources, yet many of these innovations have been slow to implement. Here, we discuss that this could be due to a lack of focus on factors outside of technical and economic considerations usually explored. There is a need to focus our attention on the organizational factors that can either drive or hinder water treatment technology uptake. Using a case study from the chemical sector, we show how the decision-making process behind technology adoption is complex and that we must capture perspectives from multiple types of stakeholders.