BSc MSc PhD CEng CEnv FCIWEM FHEA Liverpool John Moores University
Several technologies have been developed to improve the quality of potable water. These technologies involves consumption of energy and chemicals utilization. Therefore, the production of safe water from sustainable water treatment plants WTPs become required. This research work aim to concentrate the efforts on using life cycle assessment LCA for benchmarking the environmental impacts of WTPs. Most researchers conducted a comparative studies to evaluate the environmental impacts from operation units in WTPs. This research work presents a holistic overview on the environmental impacts of the whole boundary of the WTPs' to fill the gap of knowledge that other researchers did not full. The research outcomes have been compiled and analyzed to build a robust framework for the researchers and decision makers who concerned about the evaluation of the environmental impacts that associated with WTPs. This framework will help to remove the vague that caused by the overlap of LCA's stages and presents the environmental impacts as a numerical indicators which will employ as a reference point in assessment stage. The outcomes revealed that the main environmental impact was caused by energy consumption. Some treatment units such as pretreatment had major contribution in consumption the energy than the other units. Global warming and ozone depletion are the main environmental impact categories that exhibited high environmental load from WTPs. The key impact of this research is to establish a guideline regards the evaluation of the environmental impacts of WTPs.
