Impact of urbanism on source separation systems: A life cycle assessment

Abstract

This study aims to assess the effect of different urban configuration regarding the choice of wastewater management of the district with source separation systems. Understanding this link can guide researchers, and also urban actors, in order to choose the best source separation solution to implement in a specific urban configuration.For this purpose, an integrated modelling approach was used to model the district with different types of urban planning, the water resources recovery facility (WRRF) and create a life cycle inventory to carry out a life cycle assessment (LCA). Six different urban configurations were tested with three different source separation scenarios and compared with an advanced WRRF with high level of nutrients and organic matter recovery.This study concludes that urine source separation is beneficial compared to advanced WWRF for all the urban configurations. Sewer construction was identified as the main contributor to environmental impact for the low-density configuration (pavilions), limiting the benefits of source separation in this urban settlement. Blackwater separation with a decentralised treatment is only beneficial for high densely populated area. Treatment of blackwater and greywater for reuse, has greater impact than reference scenario, in all urban configurations, due to high energy consumption for greywater treatment. Future research should therefore explore technical solutions for limiting the energy consumption.