Characterizing Water Pollution Potential in Life Cycle Impact Assessment Based on Bacterial Growth and Water Quality Models

Abstract

For the life cycle assessment (LCA) of wastewater management, eutrophication is considered the most relevant factor. However, eutrophication is not the only pathway through which wastewater influences the environment, and merely characterizing eutrophication potential is not sufficient for the LCA framework to reflect the influence of wastewater. This study defines the Bacterial Depletion of Oxygen (BDO)—a new impact category that represents the oxygen depleting potential caused by the growth of microorganisms—and characterization models and characterization factors are developed for the application of BDO. Water quality models (both one- and two-dimensional) are incorporated into the BDO characterization models so that the LCA framework includes some spatially differentiated factors, and can be used to estimate the direct impact of wastewater on receiving environment (IBDO value). Based on three case studies, this study demonstrates how the BDO category can be applied for the evaluation of wastewater management. Results show that increases in the downstream distance and self-purification coefficients reduce the IBDO value, whereas the increase in water velocity raises the IBDO value. Future integration of the BDO category with water quality models must link the dilution effect of water bodies, the environmental carrying capacity of receiving water, and the distribution of water pollutants in eutrophication and bacterial oxygen depletion.

Eco-Efficiency of End-of-Pipe Systems: An Extended Environmental Cost Efficiency Framework for Wastewater Treatment

“…To overcome the aforementioned problem, efforts should be made to refine the ECE method by means of characterizing the direct effect of wastewater within the phase of environmental impact assessment. A representative effect is the depletion of dissolved oxygen, resulted from the growth of microorganisms encouraged by the emitted organic matter contained in wastewater [24]. Such an effect could seriously endanger the aquatic ecosystems, especially in developing countries, such as China, where large amounts of inland water bodies are suffering from the lack of dissolved oxygen.…”

Consumers’ Perceptions of the Supply of Tap Water in Crisis Situations

“…Within the framework of the developing science of security, specialised crisis-assessment techniques have taken shape, involving both quantitative and qualitative methods [17]. Crisis to drinking-water quality include those posed by pollution with hazardous substances that threaten life, health or the environment [18,19]. The life-threatening crisis associated with water consumption is mostly a matter of short exposure times.…”

Inovação ambiental tecnológica de processo para mitigar impactos ambientais significativos: um estudo de casos múltiplos na indústria de celulose

“…Para que isso não atinja grandes proporções faz-se necessário aplicar requisitos específicos de gerenciamento de águas residuais. Isso permite o exame dos impactos potenciais nos ecossistemas sejam eles de água doce, sejam de água salgada (BAI et al, 2018) Suhr et al (2015) e Souza (2008) Como principais aspectos e impactos ambientais tem-se a escassez de recursos naturais, gerado pelo aspecto ambiental consumo de água; o impacto de oxidação e toxicidade, que tem como aspecto o efluente de dióxido de cloro; o impacto de alteração nos corpos d'água, que tem como aspectos os efluentes com soda cáustica; o impacto de alteração da biota aquática, que tem como aspectos os efluentes, tais com tenso ativos e poluentes orgânicos; e a contaminação da água gerada por efluentes com dioxinas, furanos, resíduos de cloro ou industriais (SOUZA, 2008;SUHR et al, 2015).…”

“…Como as emissões de poluentes da água afetam diretamente os corpos de água regionais, as águas residuais já que quando liberados em corpos de água, os poluentes da água são envolvidos em reações biológicas, químicas e físicas simultâneas. Sendo assim, a concentração de poluentes varia em diferentes partes dos corpos de água com diferentes impactos potenciais (BAI et al, 2018).…”

“…Os principais parâmetros para água são Demanda Bioquímica de Oxigênio (DBO), substâncias tóxicas como, por exemplo, metais pesados, óleos e graxas e materiais em suspensão (CARVALHO, 2005). A DBO é um tipo de impacto que representa o potencial de esgotamento de oxigênio causado pelo crescimento de micro-organismos (BAI et al, 2018).…”