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The Water Impact Index: a simplified single-indicator approach for water footprinting

  • WATER USE IN LCA
  • Published:
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Purpose

Along with climate change-related issues, improved water management is recognized as one of the major challenges to sustainability. However, there are still no commonly accepted methods for measuring sustainability of water uses, resulting in a recent proliferation of water footprint methodologies. The Water Impact Index presented in this paper aims to integrate the issues of volume, scarcity and quality into a single indicator to assess the reduction of available water for the environment induced by freshwater uses for human activities.

Methods

The Water Impact Index follows life cycle thinking principles. For each unit process, a volumetric water balance is performed; water flows crossing the boundaries between the techno-sphere and environment are multiplied by a water quality index and a water scarcity index. The methodology is illustrated on the current municipal wastewater management system of Milan (Italy). The Water Impact Index is combined with carbon footprint to introduce multi-impact thinking to decision makers. The Water Impact Index is further compared to results obtained using a set of three life cycle impact indicators related to water, from the ReCiPe life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) methodology.

Results and discussion

Onsite water use is the main contribution to the Water Impact Index for both wastewater management schemes. The release of better quality water is the main driver in favour of the scenario including a wastewater treatment plant, while the energy and chemicals consumed for the treatment increase the indirect water footprint and carbon footprint. Results obtained with the three midpoint indicators depict similar tendencies to the Water Impact Index.

Conclusions

This paper presents a simplified single-indicator approach for water footprinting, integrating volume, scarcity and quality issues, representing an initial step toward a better understanding and assessment of the environmental impacts of human activities on water resources. The wastewater treatment plant reduces the Water Impact Index of the wastewater management system. These results are consistent with the profile of the three midpoint indicators related to water from ReCiPe.

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Acknowledgments

The authors wish to acknowledge the anonymous reviewers for their thoughtful comments and helpful suggestions. We are grateful for the support of (in alphabetical order) Sophie Barteau, Frank Bénichou, Boris David, Daniel Dunet, Anne Flesch, David Houdusse, Oliver Keserue, Caroline Laget, David Lazarevic, Severine Mehier, Massimiliano Naso, Ed Pinero, Pierre Ribaute, Ronald Richa and Gilles Senellart for their inputs on this paper.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Veolia Environnement Recherche et Innovation, Chemin de la Digue, 78603, Maisons-Laffitte, France

    Jean-Baptiste Bayart & Sébastien Worbe

  2. Veolia Water North America, Indianapolis, IN, USA

    Julien Grimaud

  3. Veolia Environnement, Paris, Île-de-France, France

    Emanuelle Aoustin

Authors
  1. Jean-Baptiste Bayart
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  2. Sébastien Worbe
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  3. Julien Grimaud
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  4. Emanuelle Aoustin
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Sébastien Worbe.

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Responsible editor: Stephan Pfister

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Bayart, JB., Worbe, S., Grimaud, J. et al. The Water Impact Index: a simplified single-indicator approach for water footprinting. Int J Life Cycle Assess 19, 1336–1344 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-014-0732-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11367-014-0732-3

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