Reclaimed Water for Vineyard Irrigation in a Mediterranean Context: Life Cycle Environmental Impacts, Life Cycle Costs, and Eco-Efficiency

Abstract

The agricultural sector in the Mediterranean region, is increasingly using reclaimed water as an additional source for irrigation. However, there is a limited number of case studies about product-based life cycle analysis to ensure that the overall benefits of reclaimed water do indeed outweigh the impacts. The Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) and Life Cycle Costing (LCC) methods are used in this study to investigate the environmental impacts and costs of vineyard cropping systems when tertiary reclaimed water is used as a supplementary source of irrigation water (integrated system). The conventional production system utilizing 100% groundwater was used as a reference system. As a proxy for sustainability, eco-efficiency, which combines economic and environmental performance, was assessed. The LCA revealed that the integrated system could reduce the net environmental impact by 23.8% due to lower consumption of irrigation water (−50%), electricity (−27.7%), and chemical fertilizers (−22.6%). Nevertheless, trade-offs between economics and the environment occurred as an integrated system is associated with higher life cycle costs and lower economic returns due to lower crop yield (−9.1%). The combined eco-efficiency assessment (ratio of economic value added to total environmental impact) revealed that the integrated system outperformed in terms of eco-efficiency by 12.6% due to lower environmental impacts. These results confirmed that reclaimed water could help to ensure an economically profitable yield with net environmental benefits. Our results provided an up-to-date and consistent life cycle analysis contributing to the creation of a valuable knowledge base for the associated costs and benefits of vineyard cultivation with treated wastewater.

Feasibility Study of Water Reclamation Projects in Industrial Parks Incorporating Environmental Benefits: A Case Study in Chonburi, Thailand

“…Similarly, LCA and eco-efficiency assessment have pointed to a similar direction that water reclamation for irrigation delivered economic and environmental benefits [10,46], although the results are likely site-specific [47]. An LCA study by Meneses et al (2010) [10] demonstrated that the agricultural use of reclaimed water from a WWTP located on the Mediterranean coast offers environmental and economic benefits, especially when compared to desalinated water, and that water reclamation should be encouraged when freshwater is scarce.…”

“…An LCA study by Meneses et al (2010) [10] demonstrated that the agricultural use of reclaimed water from a WWTP located on the Mediterranean coast offers environmental and economic benefits, especially when compared to desalinated water, and that water reclamation should be encouraged when freshwater is scarce. Based on an eco-efficiency assessment, Canaj et al (2021) [46] suggested that reclaimed water could be used to generate an economically profitable yield of vineyard cultivation in Acquaviva Delle Fonti, Italy while also offering net environmental benefits.…”

Pivotal role of municipal wastewater resource recovery facilities in urban agriculture: A review

“…Similarly, the results of LCA conducted by Romeiko (2019) indicated that replacing groundwater with reclaimed water as the irrigation source significantly decreased life cycle global warming, acidification, ozone depletion, smog formation, and respiratory impacts of corn, soybean, and wheat systems in Northern China. The LCA conducted by Canaj et al (2021) further revealed that tertiary reclaimed water as a supplementary source of irrigation water could reduce the net environmental impact by 23.8% due to lower consumption of irrigation water (À50%), electricity (À27.7%), and chemical fertilizers (À22.6%) compared with conventional groundwater irrigation system in Italy.…”

The Economics of Fruit and Vegetable Production Irrigated with Reclaimed Water Incorporating the Hidden Costs of Life Cycle Environmental Impacts

“…The average gross irrigation requirement was 5000 m 3 /ha. The key inventory data for table grape production [10] was retrieved from the Cooperative Society of Agricultural Producers "La Molignana" in Acquaviva delle Fonti (40 • 55 37.1 N; 16 • 50 47.8 E). The full-scale tertiary treatment was based on surface filtration (disk filters) and UV disinfection to treat an equalized average flow rate of 6720 m 3 /day, equal to about 280 m 3 /h.…”

“…Other studies [9] report LCC by describing the economic burden of the product life cycle, alongside its environmental impacts. Recently, Canaj et al [10] provided a quantitative assessment of the environmental impacts, costs, and eco-efficiency of crop production with reclaimed water.…”