Complementary life cycle assessment of wastewater treatment plants: An integrated approach to comprehensive upstream and downstream impact assessments and its extension to building-level wastewater generation

Morrison, Marc; Srinivasan, Ravi S.; Ries, Robert

doi:10.1016/j.scs.2016.02.013

Cited by 23 publications

(11 citation statements)

References 14 publications

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“…The increasing imbalance between water extraction and natural recharge is aggravated by climate change, causing an increase in the cost of water resources [2][3][4]. The environmental benefits that result from adequate wastewater management make it a common practice in developed countries and an aspiration for developing countries [5][6][7]. In the European Union, this essential life resource is protected by community, state, regional, and local legal systems.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of Environmental Taxes to Finance Wastewater Treatment in Spain: An Opportunity for Regeneration?

Valero

Pajares

Sánchez

et al. 2018

Water

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The treatment of wastewater, financed through environmental taxes, is key to the development of a sustainable economy. The objective of this study is to verify whether the tax loads on wastewater discharges applied in Spain are effective, allowing the costs of secondary and tertiary treatments to be financed. First, the revenues collected from taxes related to the discharge of wastewater in the different Spanish regions, which reach an average value of 0.72 €/m3, are analysed. Second, the costs of secondary wastewater treatment, prolonged aeration, activated sludge with nutrient removal, and activated sludge without nutrient removal are studied. Additionally, the costs of tertiary treatments, with environmental objectives and for reuse purposes, are considered. The analysis carried out reveals high heterogeneity in the amounts collected through taxes in the different Autonomous Communities. In some cases, these amounts do not cover the costs of the treatments. An urgent review is therefore required of the financing systems applied in order to secure a level of income that can cover all the exploitation and investment costs incurred.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Analysis of Environmental Taxes to Finance Wastewater Treatment in Spain: An Opportunity for Regeneration?

Valero

Pajares

Sánchez

et al. 2018

Water

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“…It was mainly focused on the field of environmental science and ecology, which integrated environmental services into system analysis from the "donor" perspective and gradually developed into a scientific methodology [3]. The life cycle assessment (LCA) was born out of the research on energy consumption in the 1960s and 1970s [4]. It was initially used to analyze the human-oriented production process and system performance, and gradually extended to the field of raw material consumption and pollutant emissions.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Review of Emergy Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment: Coupling Development Perspective

Wang

Xiao

et al. 2020

Sustainability

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Two methods of natural ecosystem assessment—emergy analysis (EMA) and life cycle assessment (LCA)—are reviewed in this paper. Their advantages, disadvantages, and application areas are summarized, and the similarities and differences between these two evaluation methods are analyzed respectively. Their research progress is also sorted out. The study finds that EMA and LCA share common attributes in evaluation processes and research fields, but they focus on different aspects of macrocosms and microcosms. The assessment of system sustainability is valued by both EMA and LCA, but the former has unique advantages in natural system input analysis, and the latter is more convincing in assessing environmental loading capacity. If the system boundaries of the two methods are expanded, in other words, factors such as ecosystem services, labor, and infrastructure construction are integrated into the upstream of the target system, and environmental impact is further analyzed using LCA in the downstream of the system, the two approaches would complete each other. The quantified results would be more objective. Therefore, these two theories have the necessity of coupling development. After reviewing recent coupling application cases, the results show that LCA and EMA have commonality in the upstream of the target system (mainly in inventory database construction), while the environmental impact assessment methods are different in the downstream. So the overall coupling analysis method is not formed. The current paper gives rational suggestions on the coupling development of the two systems in terms of the aggregate emergy flow table, the indicator system construction and indicator evaluation methods. In addition, it is necessary to introduce sensitivity analysis and uncertainty analysis in order to improve the reliability of assessment results. At present, the research on the coupling development of the two theories is in rapid development stage, but there are still many problems that need further exploration.

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“…Nowadays, a solid comprehensive sustainability assessment approach is essential in the water and wastewater processes. In the last century, sustainability of wastewater has emerged in many different approaches all over the world, and has become a standard practice in developed nations and a key inspiration in developing countries [1]. The term sustainability describes development "that meets the needs of the present without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their own needs" [2] while the term sustainability assessment can be used to refer to "processes that are ex post evaluate techniques as well as those that are forward-looking ex ante processes that aim to predict the potential effects of an activity prior to its implementation" [3].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sustainability Assessment of Wastewater Systems: An Environmental and Economic Approach

Padilla‐Rivera¹,

Morgan-Sagastume²,

Güereca³

2019

JEP

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To address current challenges regarding sustainable development of wastewater treatment and provide scientific support in decision procedures towards sustainable solutions, new approaches, frameworks and methodologies about different possible solutions and their potential sustainability implications are needed. One way to facilitate sustainability assessment of wastewater is Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology; however, it fails to map the full scope of wastewater impacts. This paper presents a framework to evaluate the performance of Wastewater Treatment Facilities (WWTF) taking into consideration various factors for insuring environmental sustainability. A total of nine indicators, seven environmental and two economic related to four wastewater treatment facilities, were assessed. Apart from evaluating the sustainability, this study also discussed the link of life cycle approach and social aspects of wastewater. The results show that for the environmental dimension using LCA provides information on different types of environmental activities and different impact categories. LCA can thus be used to quantify and compare the multiple types of impacts caused by one type of use or emission, as well as the various resource uses or emissions that contribute to one type of impacts. For the economic dimension, there is still a need for consistent and robust indicators and methods. The empirical results suggest that the environmental sustainability framework can be used in the first phase of the decision procedure that leads to a strategic choice for sustainable resource recovery from wastewater in developing countries. This motives researchers and decision-makers to consider the whole picture, and not just individual aspects, when considering different futures scenarios.

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Complementary life cycle assessment of wastewater treatment plants: An integrated approach to comprehensive upstream and downstream impact assessments and its extension to building-level wastewater generation

Cited by 23 publications

References 14 publications

Analysis of Environmental Taxes to Finance Wastewater Treatment in Spain: An Opportunity for Regeneration?

Analysis of Environmental Taxes to Finance Wastewater Treatment in Spain: An Opportunity for Regeneration?

Review of Emergy Analysis and Life Cycle Assessment: Coupling Development Perspective

Sustainability Assessment of Wastewater Systems: An Environmental and Economic Approach

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