Systems Analysis of Zaragoza Urban Water - SWITCH - Managing ...

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Systems Analysis of Zaragoza UWS Guillermo Penagos Systems Analysis of Zaragoza Urban Water System (Spain): A Preliminary Assessment of Environmental Sustainability Master of Science Thesis By Guillermo Penagos Supervision P. N. van der Steen, PhD, MSc (UNESCO-IHE) Examination Committee Prof K. Vairavamoorthy (UNESCO-IHE), Chairman P. N. van der Steen, PhD, MSc (UNESCO-IHE) R de Graaf, MSc (external) This research is done for the partial fulfilment of the requirements for the Master of Science degree at UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft, the Netherlands Delft April, 2007
Systems Analysis of Zaragoza UWS Guillermo Penagos Abstract The environmental performance of Zaragoza urban water system of (Spain) is analyzed by means of LCA with focus on water withdrawal and use; energy and chemical products consumption; CO 2 emissions; and emissions of nutrients and heavy metals to the receiving water body and to sewage sludge. All these variables are recommended to be used as indicators for sustainability of this urban water system. The time horizon covers six years between 2000 and 2006; a period where the water supply system is being optimized and industrial and water consumption is being reduced. Results show that despite a significant reduction of water withdrawal and unaccounted, resource consumption and final releases to the environment have remained steady. Groundwater is an important component of the urban water cycle, but due to its origin as agriculture irrigation excess if facing issues of quality. This resource will be possibly threatened in the future if irrigation systems upstream from Zaragoza are optimized. A problem tree analysis revealed that mayor drivers of environmental sustainability for Zaragoza water cycle are population increase; Spanish national policies on water and environment and climate change. A scenario analysis showed that industrial recycling would be a good strategy to continue reducing water withdrawal and it will also contribute to reduce energy consumption as well as CO 2 emissions, whereas all other analyzed indicators are expected to worsen as long as current societal production and consumption patterns; and wastewater treatment technologies remain the same. Comprehensive strategies that involve not just technical solutions are required in order to assure the environmental sustainability of this system. Keywords: Environmental performance, Life cycle assessment, sustainability indicators, urban water systems, pollution loads, resource consumption, scenario analysis. Acknowledgements: This report is the result of research to the M Sc Programme in Environmental Science of the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, financed by the Programme Alßan – European Union Programme of High Level Scholarships for Latin America (no. E05M054643CO); and the UNESCO-IHE Fellowship Trust Fund. This research is part of the SWITCH project funded by the FP 6 programme of the European Union (no. 018530). 3
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