Abstract
This article presents a model of the environmental assessment of the system of wastewater collection, transport and treatment. The model was developed based on an original environmental assessment method of a system consisting of four elements: septic tanks, household wastewater treatment plants, a sewerage system and a central wastewater treatment plant. To conduct the environmental assessment, the Life Cycle Assessment technique was applied. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) method was also applied, which enabled the determination of the carbon footprint of the analysed wastewater management system. This article presents the outline of an original method applied to create a model and an inventory of the data necessary for environmental assessment and the application of the model for the environmental assessment of a system of wastewater collection, transport and treatment in a city with over 50.000 inhabitants. Three feasible variants (from a functional, technical, organizational and financial point of view) of the system’s development were analysed. The variants were subjected to comparative analysis using the solution. The obtained results, together with the assessment method can be used as a practical tool to assess whether the European Commission’s guidelines are met, as well as the challenges facing wastewater management in the circular economy are overcome.
Highlights
The selection of a wastewater management method in order to minimize the influence on the environment is a rare situation and it is most often caused by specific local conditions, as well as detailed requirements imposed by environmental protection authorities or arrangements made by public consultations[7]
To conduct an environmental assessment with a Life Cycle Assessment of the system of wastewater collection, transport and treatment, as well as the European Commission’s latest guidelines and recommendations concerning the assessment of the influence of enterprises, and especially their greenhouse gas emission, on the climate, this study presents an assessment of GHG emission in the analysed system
It is possible to determine the aggregated index of the environmental assessment for each element of the system - septic tanks, household wastewater treatment plants, sewerage system and central wastewater treatment plant and for the system itself as a whole
Summary
The selection of a wastewater management method in order to minimize the influence on the environment is a rare situation and it is most often caused by specific local conditions, as well as detailed requirements imposed by environmental protection authorities or arrangements made by public consultations[7]. Fundamental problems in wastewater management are a lack of knowledge on the subject and a lack of methods and comparative tools for the complex analysis of the environmental impact of solutions for both central wastewater treatment plants and household wastewater treatment plants[7]. This article addresses this gap by presenting a model of the environmental assessment of a system of wastewater collection, transport and treatment which www.nature.com/scientificreports consists of: a sewerage system, a central wastewater treatment plant, septic tanks and household wastewater treatment plants. In the study of LCA of alternative wastewater treatment processes[29], it was concluded that the LCA approach can be used as a decision making tool in design studies, but information for environmental impact assessment and minimization measures requires further improvement
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