Climate change impact assessment of various wastewater treatment facilities: A case study in Bandung City, Indonesia

Abstract

Untreated wastewater discharge poses notable environmental and public health problems, among others the production of CH4, CO2, and N2O gas emissions contributing to climate change phenomenon. The implementation of wastewater treatment facilities can minimize the GHG emissions resulting from the effluent. However, different technologies and systems perform different results. Using the Life Cycle Assessment method of analysis, this study took Bandung City as a case study and selected the seven most common wastewater treatment facilities found in the city. The results showed that individual hybrid systems with the combination of the conventional septic tank, conveyance by septage truck, and sludge treatment in the Septage Treatment Plant (HS1) and individual on-site system with the conventional septic tank (OFS1) produced substantial global warming impact, resulting in 0.78 and 0.71 kg CO2 eq respectively per 1 m3 treated wastewater. This amount was sixfold that of communal on-site systems with biofilter tanks (OFS2) and 2-3 times larger than other remaining systems. On the other side, the system that produced the lowest amount of GHG emissions performed by OFS2 (0.11 kg CO2 eq).