Web of Science: 20 cites, Scopus: 21 cites, Google Scholar: cites,
Environmental assessment of drinking water transport and distribution network use phase for small to medium-sized municipalities in Spain
Sanjuan Delmas, David (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Petit Boix, Anna (Petit Boix) (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals)
Martínez Gasol, Carles (Inèdit Innovació S.L.)
Farreny Gaya, Ramon (Inèdit Innovació S.L.)
Villalba, Gara (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Biològica i Ambiental)
Suárez Ojeda, María Eugenia (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Biològica i Ambiental)
Gabarrell Durany, Xavier (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Biològica i Ambiental)
Josa Garcia-Tornel, Alejandro (Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. Departament d'Enginyeria del Terreny, Cartogràfica i Geofísica)
Rieradevall, Joan (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona. Departament d'Enginyeria Química, Biològica i Ambiental)

Data: 2015
Resum: Previous studies assessing the environmental impacts of drinking water supply networks have considered a bottom-up approach, analysing single case studies. This paper presents a top-down approach for the assessment of the operational phase of a water supply network. A representative sample of 50 cities was statistically analysed to find relations between different variables regarding electricity and water consumption linked with the environmental impacts of the network. The results show that some of the variables are clearly related to the relative energy consumption of the network. Such is the case for population size, where small municipalities have up to 14 times higher relative electricity consumption compared with medium-sized municipalities (1. 15E-2 as opposed to 8. 3E-4 kWh/m³ registered water km of network) due to case-specific factors such as a strong gradient between a water tank and the consumption point. Similarly, the cases showing low population density exhibit 7 times higher relative electricity consumption because of the longer distances that must be covered and the correlation between population density and size. The values found for greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions derived from the energy consumption are consistent with results from previous studies: on average, 5. 53 kg of CO₂ eq. emissions/inhabitant·year are released, but the variability is very high, ranging from 0. 005 to 67. 8 kg of CO₂ eq. emissions/inhabitant·year. No clearly significant correlations were found between the relative water demand and variables such as seasonality or income per capita, which might indicate that water consumption depends on individual decisions of the population rather than on the variables assessed. Models for the estimation of water demand, length of network and electricity consumption were defined. However, the modelling of electricity consumption presented more difficulties because of its high variability. A protocol for data collection should be defined and implemented in the future to enable the analysis of more high quality case studies and for the definition of more accurate and reliable models.
Ajuts: European Commission LIFE10/000520
Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación 2010-20789-C04-01
Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación CTM2010-17365
Drets: Tots els drets reservats.
Llengua: Anglès
Document: Article ; recerca ; Versió sotmesa a revisió
Matèria: Urban water cycle ; Energy ; Water supply ; Water pipeline ; Sustainability ; CO₂ emissions
Publicat a: Journal of cleaner production, Vol. 87 (Jan. 2015) , p. 573-582, ISSN 1879-1786

DOI: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.09.042


Post-print
42 p, 1.4 MB

Pre-print
32 p, 610.3 KB

El registre apareix a les col·leccions:
Documents de recerca > Documents dels grups de recerca de la UAB > Centres i grups de recerca (producció científica) > Ciències > Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals (ICTA) > Sostenibilitat i Prevenció Ambiental (Sostenipra)
Articles > Articles de recerca
Articles > Articles publicats

 Registre creat el 2015-05-12, darrera modificació el 2022-09-14



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