Life cycle assessments of urban water systems: A comparative analysis of selected peer-reviewed literature

Water Research

Volumn 67, Issue , 2014, Pages 187-202

  Loubet, Philippe ^a,b,c   Roux, Philippe ^a,c   Loiseau, Eleonore ^a,c   Bellon Maurel, Veronique ^a  

^a UMR ITAP   (France)

^b Veolia Eau Compagnie Generale des Eaux   (France)

^c Research Group for Environmental Life Cycle Sustainability Assessment   (France)

Author keywords

LCA; Review; Urban water system; Water resources; Water technology; Water user

Indexed keywords

DECISION MAKING; ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT; ENVIRONMENTAL TECHNOLOGY; REVIEWS; SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT; WATER RESOURCES; WATERWORKS;

ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT; LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT (LCA); LIFE CYCLE IMPACT ASSESSMENT; QUANTITATIVE COMPARISON; QUANTITATIVE INFORMATION; URBAN WATER SYSTEMS; WATER TECHNOLOGIES; WATER USERS;

LIFE CYCLE;

COMPARATIVE STUDY; ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT; LIFE CYCLE ANALYSIS; LITERATURE REVIEW; MASS BALANCE; SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT; WATER FLOW; WATER MANAGEMENT; WATER RESOURCE; WATER TECHNOLOGY; WATER USE;

ARTICLE; ELECTRICITY; ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT; FLUID INTAKE; FORECASTING; LIFE CYCLE; LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT; PHYSICAL MODEL; TECHNOLOGY; URBAN AREA; WASTE WATER; WASTE WATER MANAGEMENT; WATER CYCLE; WATER FLOW; WATER SUPPLY; CITY; COMPARATIVE STUDY; ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION; PROCEDURES; STANDARDS; SYSTEM ANALYSIS; WATER MANAGEMENT;

DRINKING WATER;

CITIES; CONSERVATION OF NATURAL RESOURCES; DRINKING WATER; SYSTEMS ANALYSIS; WATER PURIFICATION; WATER SUPPLY;

EID: 84907542724     PISSN: 00431354     EISSN: 18792448     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1016/j.watres.2014.08.048     Document Type: Review

References (81)

1. Amores M.J., Meneses M., Pasqualino J., Antón A., Castells F. Environmental assessment of urban water cycle on Mediterranean conditions by LCA approach. J. Clean. Prod. 2013, 43:84-92.
2. Arpke A., Hutzler N. Domestic water use in the United States. Environ. Eng. 2006, 10:169-184.
3. Azevedo L.B., Henderson A.D., van Zelm R., Jolliet O., Huijbregts M.A. Assessing the importance of spatial variability versus model choices in life cycle impact assessment: the case of freshwater eutrophication in Europe. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2013, 47:13565-13570.
4. Bahri A. Integrated Urban Water Management 2012, TEC Background Papers No.16, Global Water Partnership Technical Committee, Stockholm.
5. Barjoveanu G., Comandaru I.M., Rodriguez-Garcia G., Hospido A., Teodosiu C. Evaluation of water services system through LCA. A case study for Iasi City, Romania. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 2013, 19:449-462.
6. Bayart J.-B., Bulle C., Deschênes L., Margni M., Pfister S., Vince F., Koehler A. A framework for assessing off-stream freshwater use in LCA. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 2010, 15:439-453.
7. Boulay A.-M., Bouchard C., Bulle C., Deschênes L., Margni M. Categorizing water for LCA inventory. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess 2011, 16:639-651.
8. Buckley C., Friedrich E., von Blottnitz H. Life-cycle assessments in the South African water sector: a review and future challenges. WaterSA 2011, 37:719-726.
9. Corominas L., Foley J., Guest J.S., Hospido A., Larsen H.F., Morera S., Shaw A. Life cycle assessment applied to wastewater treatment: state of the art. Water Res. 2013, 47:5480-5492.
10. Cosme N., Larsen H.F., Hauschild M.Z. Endpoint characterisation modelling for marine eutrophication in LCIA marine eutrophication. SETAC Europe 23rd Annual Meeting 2013.
11. Emmerson R.H.C., Morse G.K., Lester J.N., Edge D.R. The life-cycle analysis of small-scale sewage-treatment processes. Water Environ. J. 1995, 9:317-325.
12. European Commission - Joint Research Centre - Institute for Environment and Sustainability International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) Handbook: General Guide for Life Cycle Assessment - Provisions and Action Steps 2010, Eur 24378 en - 2010, European Commission, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg.
13. European Commission - Joint Research Centre - Institute for Environment and Sustainability International Reference Life Cycle Data System (ILCD) Handbook: Specific Guide for Life Cycle Inventory Data Sets 2010, EUR 24709 EN, European Commission, Publications Office of the European Union, Luxembourg.
14. European Environment Agency Electricity Consumption Per Capita in 2008 2008, [WWW Document]. URL, (accessed 05.04.14.). http://www.eea.europa.eu/data-and-maps/figures/electricity-consumption-per-capita-in-1#tab-european-data.
15. Fagan J.E., Reuter M.a., Langford K.J. Dynamic performance metrics to assess sustainability and cost effectiveness of integrated urban water systems. Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 2010, 54:719-736.
16. Finnveden G., Hauschild M.Z., Ekvall T., Guinée J., Heijungs R., Hellweg S., Koehler A., Pennington D., Suh S. Recent developments in life cycle assessment. J. Environ. Manag. 2009, 91:1-21.
17. Foley J., de Haas D., Hartley K., Lant P. Comprehensive life cycle inventories of alternative wastewater treatment systems. Water Res. 2010, 44:1654-1666.
18. Friedrich E., Pillay S. The use of LCA in the water industry and the case for an environmental performance indicator. Water SA 2007, 33:443-452.
19. Friedrich E., Pillay S., Buckley C. Environmental life cycle assessments for water treatment processes a South African case study of an urban water cycle. Water SA 2009, 35:73-84.
20. Friedrich E., Pillay S., Buckley C. Carbon footprint analysis for increasing water supply and sanitation in South Africa: a case study. J. Clean. Prod. 2009, 17:1-12.
21. Frischknecht R. Life cycle inventory analysis for decision-making. Swiss federal institute of technology Zurich 1998, PhD dissertation.
22. Frischknecht R., Jungbluth N., Althaus H., Doka G., Dones R., Heck T., Hellweg S., Hischier R., Nemecek T., Rebitzer G., Spielmann M. Overview and Methodology 2007, ecoinvent report No. 1. Dübendorf.
23. Godskesen B., Hauschild M., Rygaard M., Zambrano K.C., Albrechtsen H.-J. Life-cycle and freshwater withdrawal impact assessment of water supply technologies. Water Res. 2013, 47:2363-2374.
24. Godskesen B., Zambrano K.C., Trautner A., Johansen N.-B., Thiesson L., Andersen L., Clauson-Kaas J., Neidel T.L., Rygaard M., Kløverpris N.H., Albrechtsen H.-J. Life cycle assessment of three water systems in Copenhagen-a management tool of the future. Water Sci. Technol. 2011, 63:565-572.
25. Goedkoop M., Spriensma R. The Eco-indicator 99-A Damage Oriented Method for Life Cycle Impact Assessment 2001, (Amersfoort, NL).
26. Goedkoop M.J., Heijungs R., Huijbregts M., De Schryver A., Struijs J., Van Zelm R. ReCiPe 2008, a Life Cycle Impact Assessment Method Which Comprises Harmonised Category Indicators at the Midpoint and the Endpoint Level 2009.
27. Guinée J.B., Gorrée M., Heijungs R., Huppes G., Kleijn R., de Koning A., van Oers L., Wegener Sleeswijk A., Suh S., Udo de Haes H.A., de Bruijn H., van Duin R., Huijbregts M.A. Handbook on Life Cycle Assessment. Operational Guide to the ISO Standards. I: LCA in Perspective. IIa: Guide. IIb: Operational Annex. III: Scientific Background 2002, Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht.
28. Guisasola A., de Haas D., Keller J., Yuan Z. Methane formation in sewer systems. Water Res. 2008, 42:1421-1430.
29. Harder R., Heimersson S., Svanström M., Peters G.M. Including pathogen risk in life cycle assessment of wastewater management. 1. Estimating the burden of disease associated with pathogens. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2014, 48:9438-9445.
30. Heijungs R. Ten easy lessons for good communication of LCA. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 2013, 19:473-476.
31. Hoekstra A.Y., Chapagain A.K., Aldaya M.M., Mekonnen M.M. The Water Footprint Assessment Manual. Setting the Global Standard 2011, Earthscan.
32. Igos E., Dalle A., Tiruta-Barna L., Benetto E., Baudin I., Mery Y. Life cycle assessment of water treatment: what is the contribution of infrastructure and operation at unit process level?. J. Clean. Prod. 2014, 65:424-431.
33. ISO 14044: Environmental Management - Life Cycle Assessment - Requirements and Guidelines 2006, Geneva.
34. ISO 14040: Environmental Management - Life Cycle Assessment - Principles and Framework 2006, Geneva.
35. Itten R., Frischknecht R., Stucki M., Scherrer P., Psi I. Life Cycle Inventories of Electricity Mixes and Grid 2013.
36. Kenway S.J., Lant P.a., Priestley A., Daniels P. The connection between water and energy in cities: a review. Water Sci. Technol. 2011, 63:1983.
37. Klaversma E., van der Helm A.W.C., Kappelhof J.W.N.M. The use of life cycle assessment for evaluating the sustainability of the Amsterdam water cycle. J. Water Clim. Chang. 2013, 4:103.
38. Kounina A., Margni M., Bayart J.-B., Boulay A.-M., Berger M., Bulle C., Frischknecht R., Koehler A., Milà i Canals L., Motoshita M., Núñez M., Peters G., Pfister S., Ridoutt B., Zelm R., Verones F., Humbert S. Review of methods addressing freshwater use in life cycle inventory and impact assessment. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 2012, 18:707-721.
39. Lassaux S., Renzoni R., Germain A. Life cycle assessment of water: from the pumping station to the wastewater treatment plant (9 pp). Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 2006, 12:118-126.
40. Lemos D., Dias A.C., Gabarrell X., Arroja L. Environmental assessment of an urban water system. J. Clean. Prod. 2013, 54:157-165.
41. Lévová T., Hauschild M.Z. Assessing the impacts of industrial water use in life cycle assessment. CIRP Ann. Manuf. Technol. 2011, 60:29-32.
42. Loiseau E., Roux P., Junqua G., Maurel P., Bellon-Maurel V. Adapting the LCA framework to environmental assessment in land planning. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 2013, 18:1533-1548.
43. Loubet P., Roux P., Núñez M., Belaud G., Bellon-Maurel V. Assessing water deprivation at the sub-river basin scale in LCA integrating downstream cascade effects. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2013, 47:14242-14249.
44. Lundie S., Peters G.M., Beavis P.C. Life cycle assessment for sustainable metropolitan water systems planning. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2004, 38:3465-3473.
45. Lundin M., Morrison G.M. A life cycle assessment based procedure for development of environmental sustainability indicators for urban water systems. Urban Water 2002, 4:145-152.
46. Mahgoub M.E., van der Steen N.P., Abu-Zeid K., Vairavamoorthy K. Towardssustainability in urban water: a life cycle analysis of the urban water system of Alexandria City. Egypt. J. Clean. Prod. 2010, 18:1100-1106.
47. Mery Y. Development of an integrated tool for Process Modelling and Life Cycle Assessment: Ecodesign of process plants and application to drinking water treatment 2012, PhD Dissertation, Université de Toulouse.
48. Milà i Canals L., Chenoweth J., Chapagain A.K., Orr S., Antón A., Clift R. Assessing freshwater use impacts in LCA: part I-inventory modelling and characterisation factors for the main impact pathways. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 2008, 14:28-42.
49. Muñoz I., Milà-i-Canals L., Fernández-Alba A.R. Life cycle assessment of water supply plans in Mediterranean Spain. J. Ind. Ecol. 2010, 14:902-918.
50. Muñoz I., Rodríguez A., Rosal R., Fernández-alba A.R. Life cycle assessment of urban wastewater reuse with ozonation as tertiary treatment A focus on toxicity-related impacts. Sci. Total Environ. 2008, 407:1245-1256.
51. Nair S., George B., Malano H.M., Arora M., Nawarathna B. Water-energy-greenhouse gas nexus of urban water systems: review of concepts, state-of-art and methods. Resour. Conserv. Recycl. 2014, 89:1-10.
52. Nunez, M., Pfister, S., Vargas, M., Anton, A., 2014. Spatial and temporal specific characterisation factors for water use impact assessment in Spain. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess.
53. Pfister S., Bayer P. Monthly water stress: spatially and temporally explicit consumptive water footprint of global crop production. J. Clean. Prod. 2014, 73:52-62.
54. Pfister S., Koehler A., Hellweg S. Assessing the environmental impacts of freshwater consumption in LCA. Environ. Sci. Technol. 2009, 43:4098-4104.
55. Pfister S., Saner D., Koehler A. The environmental relevance of freshwater consumption in global power production. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 2011, 16:580-591.
56. 2 emissions from the life cycle of a potable water pipeline project. J. Manag. Eng. 2011, 22-30.
57. Potting J., Hauschild M. Background for Spatial Differentiation in Life Cycle Impact Assessment: the EDIP2003 Methodology 2004, Danish Environmental Protection Agency.
58. Qi C., Chang N.-B. Integrated carbon footprint and cost evaluation of a drinking water infrastructure system for screening expansion alternatives. J. Clean. Prod. 2012, 27:51-63.
59. Quantis Water Database 2011, (Lausanne, Switzerland).
60. Remy C., Jekel M. Energy analysis of conventional and source-separation systems for urban wastewater management using life cycle assessment. Water Sci. Technol. 2012, 65:22-29.
61. Risch E., Boutin C., Roux P., Gillot S., Héduit A. LCA in wastewater treatment - applicability and limitations for constructed wetland systems: using vertical reed bed filters. LCM 2011-Towards Life Cycle Sustainability Management 2011, (Berlin).
62. Risch E., Loubet P., Núñez M., Roux P. How environmentally significant is water consumption during wastewater treatment?: application of recent developments in LCA to WWT technologies used at 3 contrasted geographical locations. Water Res. 2014, 57:20-30.
63. Rosenbaum R.K., Bachmann T.M., Gold L.S., Huijbregts M.a.J., Jolliet O., Juraske R., Koehler A., Larsen H.F., MacLeod M., Margni M., McKone T.E., Payet J., Schuhmacher M., Meent D., Hauschild M.Z. USEtox-the UNEP-SETAC toxicity model: recommended characterisation factors for human toxicity and freshwater ecotoxicity in life cycle impact assessment. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 2008, 13:532-546.
64. Roux P., Boutin C., Risch E., Heduit A. Life cycle environmental assessment (LCA) of sanitation systems including sewerage: case of vertical flow constructed wetlands versus activated sludge. 12th Conference on Wetland Systems for Water Pollution Control 2010.
65. Rowley H.V., Lundie S., Peters G.M. A hybrid life cycle assessment model for comparison with conventional methodologies in Australia. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 2009, 14:508-516.
66. Sahely H.R., Kennedy C.A., Adams B. Developing sustainability criteria for urban infrastructure systems. Can. J. Civ. Eng. 2005, 32:72-85.
67. Schulz M., Short M.D., Peters G.M. A streamlined sustainability assessment tool for improved decision making in the urban water industry. Integr. Environ. Assess. Manag. 2012, 8:183-193.
68. Seppäläa J., Melanen M. How can the eco-efficiency of a region be measured and monitored?. J. Ind. Ecol 2005, 9:117-130.
69. Short M.D., Daikeler A., Peters G.M., Mann K., Ashbolt N.J., Stuetz R.M., Peirson W.L. Municipal gravity sewers: an unrecognised source of nitrous oxide. Sci. Total Environ. 2014, 468-469:211-218.
70. Short M.D., Peirson W.L., Peters G.M., Cox R.J. Managing adaptation of urban water systems in a changing climate. Water Resour. Manag. 2012, 26:1953-1981.
71. Slagstad H., Brattebø H. Life cycle assessment of the water and wastewater system in Trondheim, Norway - a case study. Urban Water J. 2014, 11:323-334.
72. Sombekke H., Voorhoeve D., Hiemstra P. Environmental impact assessment of groundwater treatment with nanofiltration. Desalination 1997, 113:293-296.
73. Sonnemann G., Vigon B., Rack M., Valdivia S. Global guidance principles for life cycle assessment databases: development of training material and other implementation activities on the publication. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 2013, 18:1169-1172.
74. Tillman A.M., Svingby M., Lundström H. Life cycle assessment of municipal waste water systems. Int. J. Life Cycle Assess. 1998, 3:145-157.
75. United Nations Fact Sheet - Cities 2012.
76. Venkatesh G., Brattebø H. Energy consumption, costs and environmental impacts for urban water cycle services: case study of Oslo (Norway). Energy 2011, 36:792-800.
77. Vince F. Design Approach for the Improvement of the Economic and Environmental Performances of Potable Water Supply 2007, PhD Dissertation, Ecole polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne.
78. Weidema B., Wesnæs M. Data quality management for life cycle inventories-an example of using data quality indicators. J. Clean. Prod. 1996, 4:167-174.
79. World Water Assessment Programme UN The United Nations World Water Development Report 3: Water in a Changing World, Ecological 2009, (Paris, France and London, England).
80. Yoshida H., Christensen T.H., Scheutz C. Life cycle assessment of sewage sludge management: a review. Waste Manag. Res. 2013, 31:1083-1101.
81. Yoshida H., Clavreul J., Scheutz C., Christensen T.H. Influence of data collection schemes on the life cycle assessment of a municipal wastewater treatment plant. Water Res. 2014, 56:292-303.