Environmental and financial life cycle impact assessment of drinking water production at Waternet

In this research, the environmental and financial impact of the existing water treatment—i.e. the drinking water production plant Weesperkarspel and its pre-treatment plant Loenderveen—are determined as a reference for future changes and for assessing opportunities for the reduction of the environmental impact. Environmental impact for Loenderveen and Weesperkarspel is found to be 8.61 milli-Eco-points/m3 of drinking water, following life cycle assessment approach and assessing impact with the Eco-Indicator 99 method. Financial impact is 0.1345 Euros/m3. It is assessed based on materials and energy flows and including other direct costs of production, like maintenance and direct labour costs. In both cases data from operation in 2002 are used. However, neither construction nor demolition phases are included. Coagulation at Loenderveen, softening and biological activated carbon filtration (BACF) at Weesperkarspel are the processes causing the largest part of environmental and financial impact. Alternatives to reduce environmental impact of the current treatment scheme are assessed, i.e. the use of ferrous sulphate as coagulant and the use of sodium hydroxide produced with green energy. It is concluded that environmental impact can potentially be reduced by 33% with the proposed alternatives.