IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jsusta/v16y2024i13p5696-d1428370.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Life Cycle Assessment of Green Space Irrigation Using Treated Wastewater: A Case Study

Author

Listed:
  • Lenise Santos

    (Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Av. Cor. José Maria Vale de Andrade, 3504-510 Viseu, Portugal)

  • Isabel Brás

    (Environmental Department, CISeD—Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Av. Cor. José Maria Vale de Andrade, 3504-510 Viseu, Portugal)

  • Miguel Ferreira

    (IT Department, Polytechnic Institute of Viseu, Av. Cor. José Maria Vale de Andrade, 3504-510 Viseu, Portugal)

  • Idalina Domingos

    (Centre for Natural Resources, Environment and Society-CERNAS-IPV, Av. Cor. José Maria Vale de Andrade, 3504-510 Viseu, Portugal)

  • José Ferreira

    (Centre for Natural Resources, Environment and Society-CERNAS-IPV, Av. Cor. José Maria Vale de Andrade, 3504-510 Viseu, Portugal)

Abstract

Water scarcity is a pressing issue that makes it essential to manage this resource efficiently and sustainably. One solution to combat this issue is the use of treated wastewater (TWW) to irrigate green spaces in cities. However, it is crucial to evaluate the environmental impacts associated with this practice. To this end, life cycle assessment (LCA) is the most advanced tool available. The objective of this study was to assess the environmental implications of using TWW for lawn irrigation in the city of Viseu. The ReCiPe 2016 method, supported by SimaPro software, was employed for life cycle impact assessment (LCIA). An attributional approach was used, and the system boundaries were expanded to include the non-discharge of TWW into the receiving environment, the avoided consumption of domestic water, and the avoided consumption of chemical fertilizers. The results revealed that using TWW for lawn irrigation is preferable in terms of human health and ecosystem damage but unfavorable in terms of resource damage. When considering the impact of water consumption on human health and terrestrial and aquatic ecosystems, it is recommended to use treated wastewater for lawn irrigation.

Suggested Citation

  • Lenise Santos & Isabel Brás & Miguel Ferreira & Idalina Domingos & José Ferreira, 2024. "Life Cycle Assessment of Green Space Irrigation Using Treated Wastewater: A Case Study," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(13), pages 1-15, July.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:16:y:2024:i:13:p:5696-:d:1428370
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/13/5696/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/2071-1050/16/13/5696/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Yadu Pokhrel & Farshid Felfelani & Yusuke Satoh & Julien Boulange & Peter Burek & Anne Gädeke & Dieter Gerten & Simon N. Gosling & Manolis Grillakis & Lukas Gudmundsson & Naota Hanasaki & Hyungjun Kim, 2021. "Global terrestrial water storage and drought severity under climate change," Nature Climate Change, Nature, vol. 11(3), pages 226-233, March.
    2. Schwaller, Christoph & Keller, Yvonne & Helmreich, Brigitte & Drewes, Jörg E., 2021. "Estimating the agricultural irrigation demand for planning of non-potable water reuse projects," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 244(C).
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    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. Marzia Ciampittiello & Aldo Marchetto & Angela Boggero, 2024. "Water Resources Management under Climate Change: A Review," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(9), pages 1-14, April.
    2. Vasileios A. Tzanakakis & Andrea G. Capodaglio & Andreas N. Angelakis, 2023. "Insights into Global Water Reuse Opportunities," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(17), pages 1-30, August.
    3. Ross Kingwell, 2021. "Making Agriculture Carbon Neutral Amid a Changing Climate: The Case of South-Western Australia," Land, MDPI, vol. 10(11), pages 1-20, November.
    4. Eleonora Cataldo & Maddalena Fucile & Giovan Battista Mattii, 2022. "Effects of Kaolin and Shading Net on the Ecophysiology and Berry Composition of Sauvignon Blanc Grapevines," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 12(4), pages 1-21, March.
    5. Sangha, Laljeet & Shortridge, Julie, 2023. "Quantification of unreported water use for supplemental crop irrigation in humid climates using publicly available agricultural data," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 287(C).
    6. Monna Lysa Teixeira Santana & Vanêssa Lopes de Faria & Samara Martins Barbosa & Milson Evaldo Serafim & Alexandre Uezu & Bruno Montoani Silva & Junior Cesar Avanzi, 2023. "Impacts of Land Use Changes on Soil Functions and Water Security: Insights from a Three-Year-Long Study in the Cantareira System, Southeast of Brazil," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(18), pages 1-15, September.
    7. Schmitt, Rafael Jan Pablo & Rosa, Lorenzo, 2024. "Dams for hydropower and irrigation: Trends, challenges, and alternatives," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 199(C).
    8. Fazlullah Akhtar & Usman Khalid Awan & Christian Borgemeister & Bernhard Tischbein, 2021. "Coupling Remote Sensing and Hydrological Model for Evaluating the Impacts of Climate Change on Streamflow in Data-Scarce Environment," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 13(24), pages 1-15, December.
    9. de Castro-Pardo, Mónica & Cabello, José Manuel & Martín, José María & Ruiz, Francisco, 2023. "A multi reference point based index to assess and monitor European water policies from a sustainability approach," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    10. Zexi Shen & Qiang Zhang & Vijay P. Singh & Yadu Pokhrel & Jianping Li & Chong-Yu Xu & Wenhuan Wu, 2022. "Drying in the low-latitude Atlantic Ocean contributed to terrestrial water storage depletion across Eurasia," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 13(1), pages 1-10, December.
    11. Peyman Arjomandi A. & Masoud Yazdanpanah & Akbar Shirzad & Nadejda Komendantova & Erfan Kameli & Mahdi Hosseinzadeh & Erfan Razavi, 2023. "Institutional Trust and Cognitive Motivation toward Water Conservation in the Face of an Environmental Disaster," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(2), pages 1-21, January.
    12. Tan, Lili & Feng, Puyu & Li, Baoguo & Huang, Feng & Liu, De Li & Ren, Pinpin & Liu, Haipeng & Srinivasan, Raghavan & Chen, Yong, 2022. "Climate change impacts on crop water productivity and net groundwater use under a double-cropping system with intensive irrigation in the Haihe River Basin, China," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 266(C).
    13. David N. Sattler & James M. Graham & Albert Whippy & Richard Atienza & James Johnson, 2023. "Developing a Climate Change Risk Perception Model in the Philippines and Fiji: Posttraumatic Growth Plays Central Role," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 20(2), pages 1-16, January.
    14. Cailin Wang & Enliang Guo & Yongfang Wang & Buren Jirigala & Yao Kang & Ye Zhang, 2023. "Spatiotemporal variations in drought and waterlogging and their effects on maize yields at different growth stages in Jilin Province, China," Natural Hazards: Journal of the International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, Springer;International Society for the Prevention and Mitigation of Natural Hazards, vol. 118(1), pages 155-180, August.
    15. Amjad Khan & Yoonkyung Park & Jongpyo Park & Reeho Kim, 2022. "Assessment of Rainwater Harvesting Facilities Tank Size Based on a Daily Water Balance Model: The Case of Korea," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(23), pages 1-15, November.
    16. Haimei Duan & Chunxue Shang & Kun Yang & Yi Luo, 2022. "Dynamic Response of Surface Water Temperature in Urban Lakes under Different Climate Scenarios—A Case Study in Dianchi Lake, China," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 19(19), pages 1-11, September.
    17. Akhtar, F. & Awan, Usman Khalid & Borgemeister, C. & Tischbein, B., 2021. "Coupling remote sensing and hydrological model for evaluating the impacts of climate change on streamflow in data-scarce environment," Papers published in Journals (Open Access), International Water Management Institute, pages 1-13(24):14.
    18. Yiping Wu & Xiaowei Yin & Guoyi Zhou & L. Adrian Bruijnzeel & Aiguo Dai & Fan Wang & Pierre Gentine & Guangchuang Zhang & Yanni Song & Decheng Zhou, 2024. "Rising rainfall intensity induces spatially divergent hydrological changes within a large river basin," Nature Communications, Nature, vol. 15(1), pages 1-15, December.
    19. Wang, Li & Liu, Xiaoli & Liu, Xuejing & Bao, Xiaoyuan & Zhang, Xuecheng & Yin, Baozhong & Wang, Wentao & Wang, Yandong & Zhen, Wenchao, 2024. "Effects of spring limited irrigation on grain yield and root characteristics of winter wheat in groundwater-overexploitation areas in the North China Plain," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 294(C).
    20. Eva Hyánková & Michal Kriška Dunajský & Ondřej Zedník & Ondřej Chaloupka & Miroslava Pumprlová Němcová, 2021. "Irrigation with Treated Wastewater as an Alternative Nutrient Source (for Crop): Numerical Simulation," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 11(10), pages 1-20, September.

    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:16:y:2024:i:13:p:5696-:d:1428370. 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.