PW06 Life-Cycle Assessment
Exhibit Hall
8:00 AM - Wednesday
(PW053) Life Cycle Assessment of Wastewater Treatment Systems in Developing Countries.
RAMJEAWON, T1, 1 University of Mauriitus
ABSTRACT- Many publications exist on the comparison of wastewater treatment technologies-however, most of them base the comparison on the operation of the treatment systems and not on the full life cycle. Because of the way wastewater treatment standards have been determined, there has not been strong incentives among experts to develop methods and tools that may simplify the evaluation of both cost/benefit and sustainability of different wastewater treatment approaches. To determine which treatment technology is most suitable in a definite situation, a well-structured and comprehensive methodology is needed for technology assessment. The efficiency of technological systems such as wastewater treatment plants is usually assessed through mass and energy balances. To indicate sustainability, environmental, economic and social criteria have to be incorporated. The following criteria are important to define sustainability of treatment systems: Functional Criteria: performance , adaptability, durability, flexibility, maintenance and reliability. Economic Criteria: Affordability, cost-effectiveness and labor intensity Environmental Criteria: Resource use (energy, nutrients, water, land area) and emissions Social Criteria: Institutional requirements, expertise, participation etc. By wastewater treatment we may contribute to solving one environmental problem (that of the receiving environment) but the technology chosen may contribute to the creation of other environmental problems by, for example, being very energy consuming. The identification of pollutants transfer from one activity to another is the main interest of the life cycle approach and the tool also prevents the shifting of environmental burdens to different geographical locations. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) can provide the means to fill a gap in pertinent information towards more sustainable decision-making. LCA has largely been applied to product and to solid waste management but scarce are the applications in the field of wastewater management. This paper provides a framework for a methodology based on LCA to compare different wastewater treatment systems on sustainability criteria, including social impacts.The constraints for the wide application of the tool are then discussed. The importance of the tool for the selection of appropriate sanitation systems in developing countries so as to achieve the Millenium Development Goals is shown.
Key words: LCA, Life Cycle Assessment, Wastewater Systems, Sanitation Systems