AWWA ACE70800

This study discusses the biggest environmental burdens imposed by municipal water infrastructure based on reviewing published papers on relevant life-cycle assessments. Since impacts vary due to geographical location and socio-economic context, the water systems were grouped into four categories: urban areas in developed countries; rural areas in developed countries; urban areas in developing countries; and, rural areas in developing countries. The evaluation revealed that energy-intensive processes associated with the operational stage are the most important source of life-cycle environmental releases for centralized approaches across all four categories of water systems. For these centralized approaches, the construction, and demolition disposal life-cycle stages for these capital facilities are not as important because their environmental impacts are typically averaged over the relatively long life-times of these systems. For non-centralized approaches often associated with the rural categories of water systems, these non-operational stages become more critical. Includes 24 references, tables, figure.