The WULCA consensus characterization model for water scarcity footprints: assessing impacts of water consumption based on available water remaining (AWARE)
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Stephan Pfister; Stephan Pfister
Harvested from ORCID Public Data File Manuele Margni; Manuele Margni
Harvested from ORCID Public Data File Lorenzo Benini; Lorenzo Benini
Harvested from ORCID Public Data File
Anne-Marie Boulay; Anne-Marie Boulay
Derived by OpenAIRE algorithms or harvested from 3rd party repositories Masaharu Motoshita; Masaharu Motoshita
Harvested from ORCID Public Data File Bradley G. Ridoutt; Bradley G. Ridoutt
Harvested from ORCID Public Data File Stephan Pfister; Stephan Pfister
Harvested from ORCID Public Data File Manuele Margni; Manuele Margni
Harvested from ORCID Public Data File Lorenzo Benini; Lorenzo Benini
Harvested from ORCID Public Data File Anne-Marie Boulay; Anne-Marie Boulay
Derived by OpenAIRE algorithms or harvested from 3rd party repositories Masaharu Motoshita; Masaharu Motoshita
Harvested from ORCID Public Data File Bradley G. Ridoutt; Bradley G. Ridoutt
Harvested from ORCID Public Data File Taikan Oki; Taikan Oki
Harvested from ORCID Public Data FileThe WULCA consensus characterization model for water scarcity footprints: assessing impacts of water consumption based on available water remaining (AWARE)
Purpose Life cycle assessment (LCA) has been used to assess freshwater-related impacts according to a new water footprint framework formalized in the ISO 14046 standard. To date, no consensus-based approach exists for applying this standard and results are not always comparable when different scarcity or stress indicators are used for characterization of impacts. This paper presents the outcome of a 2-year consensus building process by the Water Use in Life Cycle Assessment (WULCA), a working group of the UNEP-SETAC Life Cycle Initiative, on a water scarcity midpoint method for use in LCA and for water scarcity footprint assessments. Methods In the previous work, the question to be answered was identified and different expert workshops around the world led to three different proposals. After eliminating one proposal showing low relevance for the question to be answered, the remaining two were evaluated against four criteria: stakeholder acceptance, robustness with closed basins, main normative choice, and physical meaning. Results and discussion The recommended method, AWARE, is based on the quantification of the relative available water remaining per area once the demand of humans and aquatic ecosystems has been met, answering the question “What is the potential to deprive another user (human or ecosystem) when consuming water in this area?” The resulting characterization factor (CF) ranges between 0.1 and 100 and can be used to calculate water scarcity footprints as defined in the ISO standard. Conclusions After 8 years of development on water use impact assessment methods, and 2 years of consensus building, this method represents the state of the art of the current knowledge on how to assess potential impacts from water use in LCA, assessing both human and ecosystem users’ potential deprivation, at the midpoint level, and provides a consensus-based methodology for the calculation of a water scarcity footprint as per ISO 14046.
The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment, 23 (2)
ISSN:0948-3349
ISSN:1614-7502
- ETH Zurich Switzerland
- Polytechnique Montréal Canada
- Wageningen University & Research Netherlands
- University of Tokyo Japan
- University of British Columbia Canada
GREENHOUSE EFFECT, WATER SCARCITY FOOTPRINT, Impact assessment; LCIA; Life cycle assessment; UNEP-SETAC life cycle initiative; Water consumption; Water footprint; Water stress; Water use; WULCA, Impact assessment, Water stress, WATER FOOTPRINT, 333, ENVIRONMENTAL WATER REQUIREMENT, Life cycle assessment, Water consumption, WATER WITHDRAWAL TO AVAILABILITY, WATER USE IN LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT, WATERSHED, WATER STRESS, MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS, PRIORITY JOURNAL, ENVIRONMENTAL PARAMETERS, FLUID INTAKE, UNEP-SETAC LIFE CYCLE INITIATIVE, LCIA, ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT, [SDE]Environmental Sciences, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, ECOSYSTEM, IMPACT ASSESSMENT, UNEP-SETAC life cycle initiative, Water footprint, WULCA, ENVIRONMENTAL WATER AVAILABILITY, Water use, ddc: ddc:690
GREENHOUSE EFFECT, WATER SCARCITY FOOTPRINT, Impact assessment; LCIA; Life cycle assessment; UNEP-SETAC life cycle initiative; Water consumption; Water footprint; Water stress; Water use; WULCA, Impact assessment, Water stress, WATER FOOTPRINT, 333, ENVIRONMENTAL WATER REQUIREMENT, Life cycle assessment, Water consumption, WATER WITHDRAWAL TO AVAILABILITY, WATER USE IN LIFE CYCLE ASSESSMENT, WATERSHED, WATER STRESS, MATHEMATICAL ANALYSIS, PRIORITY JOURNAL, ENVIRONMENTAL PARAMETERS, FLUID INTAKE, UNEP-SETAC LIFE CYCLE INITIATIVE, LCIA, ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT, [SDE]Environmental Sciences, ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION, ECOSYSTEM, IMPACT ASSESSMENT, UNEP-SETAC life cycle initiative, Water footprint, WULCA, ENVIRONMENTAL WATER AVAILABILITY, Water use, ddc: ddc:690
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