Abstract
Ecological, economic and societal challenges require decision-making and planning processes aiming at sustainability in water management. Such processes are increasingly informed and supported by sustainability assessment schemes. The focus of this article is on water infrastructure. A selection of national (German) and international assessment schemes is presented and compared. Both interdisciplinary schemes, applicable to a wide range of infrastructure measures, as well as schemes specialized in water infrastructure are considered. In addition to methodological aspects and dissemination, thematic priorities are analyzed and compared. Apart from methodological similarity, specialized schemes tend to be still in the development stage. In contrast, the interdisciplinary schemes have already been used commercially and have been applied in a considerable number of projects. The schemes considered differ significantly in the number of criteria. The interdisciplinary schemes tend to focus more on the ecological dimension while considering a small number of economic criteria. The assessment results depend on various subjective factors and the schemes do not produce true or false results in absolute terms. However, their application can make these factors visible and help identify the most stable solution with regard to different sustainability perspectives.
Highlights
In Germany, the construction industry is high in consumption of raw materials (90% of mineral raw materials mined in Germany) and generates more than 50% of waste produced [1,2,3]
Following an overview of the legal basis for the sustainability assessment of water infrastructure in Section 2, this article looks at the differences of two types of assessment schemes, i.e., interdisciplinary and water-specific schemes
Several sustainability assessment schemes exist that are applicable in the infrastructure sector and for all different types of infrastructure work
Summary
In Germany, the construction industry is high in consumption of raw materials (90% of mineral raw materials mined in Germany) and generates more than 50% of waste produced [1,2,3]. The application of sustainability assessment schemes was considered relevant for decision-making with regard to the selection of project or strategic alternatives by all 22 participants In contrast to this understanding, the participants noted that, until now, respective schemes have been rarely applied in every day planning for sustainable construction of water infrastructure. Following an overview of the legal basis for the sustainability assessment of water infrastructure, this article looks at the differences of two types of assessment schemes, i.e., interdisciplinary and water-specific schemes These are compared regarding different aspects, e.g., sector of application, project phase when applied, question to be answered, criteria and indicators used, life cycle phases considered and assessment methodology.
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