Anne- Marie Boulay, Ph.D. CIRAIG Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal anne- waterlca.org

Transcription

1 Water Footprint: Why? What? Who? HydroVision Conference Nashville, July 23rd, 2014 Anne- Marie Boulay, Ph.D. CIRAIG Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal anne- waterlca.org

2 Water: How much is there? Precipitation on land: km 3 / year (100%) Evaporation and transpiration (62%) Runoff (38%) Human water use (3%) 2.1% 0.3% 0.6% 2

3 Water: what is the problem? "There is a water crisis today. But the crisis is not about having too little water to satisfy our needs. It is a crisis of managing water so badly that billions of people - and the environment - suffer badly." 3900 children die every day from water borne diseases World Water Council 1 out of 6 people lack access to safe drinking water 8 Mighty rivers are running dry from overuse, greatly affecting humans and ecosystems (Colorado, Indus, Amu Darya, Syr Darya, Rio Grande, Yellow, Teesta and Murray) 3

4 Water quantity issues Source: Boulay et al, 2013 Water quality issues 4

5 As Kelvin said If you can not measure it, you can not improve it. 5

6 Life Cycle approach: a global view 6

7 Mid-point damage conventional framework Pesticide SO 2 Cu CO 2 Phosphate Irrigation Water Crude Oil Iron Ore

8 Electric car: Better or Worst? Zero emissions? Emissions elsewhere!

9 Mid- point damage conventional framework Problems Methodological tool, decision making Respiratory effects Areas of protection QuantifiesPhotochem. oxydation potential environmental impacts Pesticide SO2 Cu Entire CO2 ISO Phosphate Ozone layer depletion life cycle of a product Human Health Ionizing radiation standardstoxic 14 Impacts 040/44 Global warming Ecosystem Quality Water availability Irrigation Water Crude Oil Iron Ore Acidification Eutrophication Resources Land use Biotic ressource use Abiotic ressouce use Jolliet 2004, Life cycle initiative

10 From inventory, to risk, to impacts Inventory of water use and emissions Water- related problems (midpoint) WATER Resource Pollution Availability Toxicity FOOTPRINT Acidification Eutrophication Water- related damages (or endpoint) Human health Ecosystem quality Resources [DALY / y] [PDF- m 2 - y / y] [MJ / y] (c) Quantis 10

11 Types of water footprint metrics and assessments 11

12 Water Footprint Network (WFN) A Volumetric Approach: Blue water Green water Grey water 12

13 ISO 14046: Water footprint: Principles, requirements and guidelines Developed in an international consensus- based process Approved in May 2014 Published in August

14 ISO WATER FOOTPRINT IMPORTANT CONCEPTS Should be life- cycle based Could be stand- alone or part of a full Life Cycle Assessment Results should include impact assessment sufficient) and address regional issues (volumes not Both quantity and quality should be considered Comprehensive impact assessment related to water (not only water use but all impacts related to water) Can result in one or several indicators 14

15 Water Footprint types as per ISO Profile of midpoint indicators Human health Ecosystems Water availability MIDPOINT -Water scarcity footprint OR - Water availability footprint ENDPOINT - Malnutrition and/or water related diseases - Terrestrial ecosystems - Aquatic ecosystems Water degradation -Human toxicity -Ecotoxicity -Eutrophication -Acidification Human toxicity -Ecotoxicity -Eutrophication -Acidification qualified water footprint (ex: degradation WF, scarcity WF, etc) Water footprint 15

16 Types of Water Footprints LCA Other Footprints Water Footprint Water Availability Footprint Water Scarcity Footprint Carbon Footprint Water Degradation Footprint Water Footprint Water Availability Footprint Reduced water availability from consumption and degradation + direct pollution impacts Reduced water availability from consumption and degradation Reduced water availability from consumption 16

17 Example: Water Footprint from a load of laundry SUPPLIERS MANUFACTURING USE END- OF- LIFE Energy Water Various European countries and India Spain France Evaporation France Source: Boulay et al (2013b) 17

18 Ecosystem Water Footprint Ecosystem impacts in PDF*m2*yr 2.5E E E E E E+00 Total: IMPACTS FROM WATER CONSUMPTION IMPACTS FROM WATER DEGRADATION End- of- life: packaging End- of- life: product Use: heating energy and moving the drum Use: tap water Manufacturing Suppliers Terrestrial species Groundwater level Aquatic species Ecotox Eutrophication Aquatic acidification Thermal pollution 3.58E E E E E E E- 06 Terrestrial species Groundwater level Aquatic species Ecotox Eutrophication Aquatic acidification Thermal pollution Source: Boulay et al (2013b)

19 COMMUNICATION AND LABELLING acv.com/ slide from Quantis 19

20 Method development: the WULCA working group of the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative 20

21 UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative Water Use in LCA (WULCA) Founded in 2007, now includes à 100 experts from 21 countries Phase 1: Proposed a framework to evaluate water in LCA (Bayart et al. 2009) Phase 2: Review of different methods (Kounina et al. 2012) Phase 3: Quantitative comparison (Boulay et al A and B, under review) Current mandate ( ): Guide the scientific development of a consensual and operational method which shall be in line with both the ISO Water Footprint Standard and the LCA principles Anne-Marie Boulay, Ph.D. (Canada) Project Manager Stephan Pfister, Ph.D. (Switzerland) Deputy Manager 21

22 Anne- Marie Boulay, Ph.D. CIRAIG École Polytechnique de Montréal anne- 22

23 23 Anne- Marie Boulay, Ph.D. CIRAIG École Polytechnique de Montréal anne-

24 TYPES OF METRICS FOR IMPACTS RELATED TO WATER Scarcity Indicators ex: Pfister et al., Boulay et al (simplified version) Stress Indicator ex: Boulay et al., Veolia method Quality indicators: Eutrophication, ecotoxicity, acidification, etc. Endpoint Modeling: Human health, Ecosystems and Resources Scarcity assessment OR Quality Indicators Availability assessment (scarcity + quality) Scarcity assessment + quality indicators End point modeling (quantity and quality impacts) INCREASED ENVIRONMENTAL RELEVANCE AND SOPHISTICATION Water Footprint Training Material 24