IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v13y2021i6p3313-d518880.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

A Systemic View on Circular Economy in the Water Industry: Learnings from a Belgian and Dutch Case

Author

Listed:
  • Tanaka Mandy Mbavarira

    (Institute for Innovation and Technology Management, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences & Arts, 6048 Horw, Switzerland)

  • Christine Grimm

    (Institute for Innovation and Technology Management, Lucerne University of Applied Sciences & Arts, 6048 Horw, Switzerland)

Abstract

Water is fundamental to our existence and has increasingly been put under pressure by soaring population growth, urbanization, agricultural farming and climate change; all, of which impact the quantity and quality of our water resources. Water utilities (WUs) are challenged to provide clean, safe drinking water when faced with aging, costly infrastructure, a price of water that is not reflective of its true value and the need for infrastructure to remain resilient in a time when threats of floods and droughts are pervasive. In the linear take-use-discharge approach, wastewater is treated only to be returned to waterways and extracted again for treatment before drinking. This can no longer sustain our water resources as it is costly, energy-intensive and environmentally unsound. Circular economy (CE) has been gaining attention in the water industry to tackle this. It follows the 6Rs strategy of reduce, reuse, recycle, reclaim, recover and restore to keep water in circulation for longer and reduce the burden on natural systems. The aim of this study is to determine what the economic and operational system effects of CE are on WUs, informing them of CE’s potential to change their business operations and business model while highlighting its associated challenges. Based on a review of literature, input from expert interviews (Q4 2019) and case studies, an economic view of the urban water system is qualitatively modeled, on top, of which a circular water economy system is designed using a causal loop-diagramming system mapping tool. Digitalization, water reuse and resource recovery were determined to underpin circularity in water, providing operational benefits through efficiencies and diversification of revenue streams. However, issues of investment and a missing enabling legal framework are slowing the rate of uptake. On this basis, CE represents both a challenge and an opportunity for the water industry.

Suggested Citation

  • Tanaka Mandy Mbavarira & Christine Grimm, 2021. "A Systemic View on Circular Economy in the Water Industry: Learnings from a Belgian and Dutch Case," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(6), pages 1-62, March.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:6:p:3313-:d:518880
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/6/3313/pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/13/6/3313/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Sina Shaddel & Hamidreza Bakhtiary-Davijany & Christian Kabbe & Farbod Dadgar & Stein W. Østerhus, 2019. "Sustainable Sewage Sludge Management: From Current Practices to Emerging Nutrient Recovery Technologies," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 11(12), pages 1-12, June.
    2. Prof. Dr. Bernd Meyer, 2012. "Macroeconomic Modelling of Sustainable Development and the Links between the Economy and the Environment," GWS Research Report Series 12-1, GWS - Institute of Economic Structures Research.
    3. Edward A. Byers & Gemma Coxon & Jim Freer & Jim W. Hall, 2020. "Drought and climate change impacts on cooling water shortages and electricity prices in Great Britain," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 11(1), pages 1-12, December.
    4. Christos Makropoulos & David Butler, 2010. "Distributed Water Infrastructure for Sustainable Communities," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 24(11), pages 2795-2816, September.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Piubello Orsini, Luca & Leardini, Chiara & Danesi, Letizia & Guerrini, Andrea & Frison, Nicola, 2023. "Circular economy in the water and wastewater sector: Tariff impact and financial performance of SMARTechs," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 83(C).
    2. Qinglan Liu & Longjian Yang & Miying Yang, 2021. "Digitalisation for Water Sustainability: Barriers to Implementing Circular Economy in Smart Water Management," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(21), pages 1-28, October.
    3. Goran Volf & Ivana Sušanj Čule & Elvis Žic & Sonja Zorko, 2022. "Water Quality Index Prediction for Improvement of Treatment Processes on Drinking Water Treatment Plant," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(18), pages 1-16, September.
    4. Byron W. Keating, 2022. "CSR Commitment, Alignment and Firm Performance: The Case of the Australia-China Tourism Supply Chain," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-18, October.
    5. Piero Morseletto & Caro Eline Mooren & Stefania Munaretto, 2022. "Circular Economy of Water: Definition, Strategies and Challenges," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 2(4), pages 1463-1477, December.
    6. Marwa M. Waly & Slobodan B. Mickovski & Craig Thomson, 2023. "Application of Circular Economy in Oil and Gas Produced Water Treatment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-19, January.
    7. Jorge Alejandro Silva, 2022. "Implementation and Integration of Sustainability in the Water Industry: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-28, November.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Jorge Alejandro Silva, 2022. "Implementation and Integration of Sustainability in the Water Industry: A Systematic Literature Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-28, November.
    2. Zhai, Jihua & Burke, Ian T. & Stewart, Douglas I., 2021. "Beneficial management of biomass combustion ashes," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 151(C).
    3. Viola Somogyi & Viktória Pitás & Kinga M. Berta & Róbert Kurdi, 2022. "Red Mud as Adsorbent to Recover Phosphorous from Wastewater Streams," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(20), pages 1-15, October.
    4. Jing-Li Fan & Zezheng Li & Xi Huang & Kai Li & Xian Zhang & Xi Lu & Jianzhong Wu & Klaus Hubacek & Bo Shen, 2023. "A net-zero emissions strategy for China’s power sector using carbon-capture utilization and storage," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 14(1), pages 1-16, December.
    5. Nogueira Vilanova, Mateus Ricardo & Perrella Balestieri, José Antônio, 2014. "Energy and hydraulic efficiency in conventional water supply systems," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 30(C), pages 701-714.
    6. Hyungjin Shin & Gyumin Lee & Jaenam Lee & Sehoon Kim & Inhong Song, 2023. "Assessment of Agricultural Drought Vulnerability with Focus on Upland Fields and Identification of Primary Management Areas," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(3), pages 1-16, February.
    7. Kelly Sanders & Carey King & Ashlynn Stillwell & Michael Webber, 2013. "Clean energy and water: assessment of Mexico for improved water services and renewable energy," Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, Springer, vol. 15(5), pages 1303-1321, October.
    8. Beibei Liu & Chaowei Xu & Jiashuai Yang & Sen Lin & Xi Wang, 2022. "Effect of Land Use and Drainage System Changes on Urban Flood Spatial Distribution in Handan City: A Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-18, November.
    9. Jonas Heiberg & Christian Binz & Bernhard Truffer, 2020. "The Geography of Technology Legitimation. How multi-scalar legitimation processes matter for path creation in emerging industries," Papers in Evolutionary Economic Geography (PEEG) 2034, Utrecht University, Department of Human Geography and Spatial Planning, Group Economic Geography, revised Aug 2020.
    10. Magdalena Szymańska & Tomasz Sosulski & Ewa Szara & Adam Wąs & Piotr Sulewski & Gijs W.P. van Pruissen & René L. Cornelissen, 2019. "Ammonium Sulphate from a Bio-Refinery System as a Fertilizer—Agronomic and Economic Effectiveness on the Farm Scale," Energies, MDPI, vol. 12(24), pages 1-15, December.
    11. G. Tjandraatmadja & A. Sharma & T. Grant & F. Pamminger, 2013. "A Decision Support Methodology for Integrated Urban Water Management in Remote Settlements," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(2), pages 433-449, January.
    12. Xin (Cissy) Ma & Xiaobo Xue & Alejandra González-Mejía & Jay Garland & Jennifer Cashdollar, 2015. "Sustainable Water Systems for the City of Tomorrow—A Conceptual Framework," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(9), pages 1-35, September.
    13. Devi Buehler & Nadine Antenen & Matthias Frei & Christoph Koller & Diederik P. L. Rousseau & Andreas Schoenborn & Ranka Junge, 2021. "Towards Water and Energy Self-Sufficiency: a Closed-Loop, Solar-Driven, Low-Tech Laundry Pilot Facility (LaundReCycle) for the Reuse of Laundry Wastewater," Circular Economy and Sustainability, Springer, vol. 1(3), pages 1037-1051, November.
    14. Govind Joshi & Salman Mohagheghi, 2021. "Optimal Operation of Combined Energy and Water Systems for Community Resilience against Natural Disasters," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-19, September.
    15. Natalia Milojevic & Agnieszka Cydzik-Kwiatkowska, 2021. "Agricultural Use of Sewage Sludge as a Threat of Microplastic (MP) Spread in the Environment and the Role of Governance," Energies, MDPI, vol. 14(19), pages 1-16, October.
    16. Eggimann, Sven & Truffer, Bernhard & Feldmann, Ulrike & Maurer, Max, 2018. "Screening European market potentials for small modular wastewater treatment systems – an inroad to sustainability transitions in urban water management?," Land Use Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 711-725.
    17. Rambonilaza, Tina & Rulleau, Bénédicte & Assouan, Epiphane, 2023. "On sharing the costs of public drinking water infrastructure renewal among users with different preferences," Utilities Policy, Elsevier, vol. 85(C).
    18. Monika Jakubus, 2023. "Quantitative Distribution and Contamination Risk Assessment of Cu and Zn in Municipal Sewage Sludge," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(15), pages 1-18, August.
    19. Dong, Xiyong & Yoon, Seong-Min, 2023. "Effect of weather and environmental attentions on financial system risks: Evidence from Chinese high- and low-carbon assets," Energy Economics, Elsevier, vol. 121(C).
    20. Nidhal Marzougui & Nadia Ounalli & Sonia Sabbahi & Tarek Fezzani & Farah Abidi & Sihem Jebari & Sourour Melki & Ronny Berndtsson & Walid Oueslati, 2022. "How Can Sewage Sludge Use in Sustainable Tunisian Agriculture Be Increased?," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(21), pages 1-22, October.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:13:y:2021:i:6:p:3313-:d:518880. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.