A contribution to the environmental impact assessment of green water flows

Abstract In recent years, numerous efforts have been made to include water-related issues in life cycle assessment (LCA) methodology. This study provides an overview of existing methods that address green water use in LCA. In this overview, we analyse the main features of existing LCA methods used to examine changes in long-term blue water availability caused by variations in green water flows, particularly with respect to inventory, the characterisation model and characterisation factors. Moreover, we propose a method of assessing impacts on terrestrial green water flows (TGWI) and addressing reductions in surface blue water production (RBWP) caused by reductions in surface runoff due to land-use production systems. Both TGWI and RBWP are analysed, taking into account the green water use/atmosphere and green water use/soil interfaces. In this proposed method, the life cycle inventory (LCI) phase considers the net green water flow that leaves the land-use production system, allowing the study of two alternative reference land uses: 1) quasi-natural forest and 2) grasslands/shrublands. In the life cycle impact assessment (LCIA) phase, regional- and species-specific characterisation factors (CFs) for the amount of green water evaporated or transpired are also proposed. To illustrate the applicability of the proposed method, we employed a case study on Eucalyptus globulus stands (first rotation), located in Portugal. The results show that different impacts on terrestrial green water flows and on surface blue water production are obtained depending on the alternative reference land use. Moreover, the case study shows that the method developed can be a useful tool assisting in improved national E. globulus forest planning.

[1]  J. Seppälä,et al.  Eutrophication of aquatic ecosystems a new method for calculating the potential contributions of nitrogen and phosphorus , 2004 .

[2]  Dieter Gerten,et al.  Human alterations of the terrestrial water cycle through land management , 2008 .

[3]  Kyoichi Otsuki,et al.  Simple modeling of the global variation in annual forest evapotranspiration , 2012 .

[4]  J. Rockström,et al.  Balancing Water for Humans and Nature: The New Approach in Ecohydrology , 2004 .

[5]  Josep Piñol,et al.  Hydrological balance of two Mediterranean forested catchments (Prades, northeast Spain) , 1991 .

[6]  Jesús Carrera,et al.  Coupling of mass transfer and reactive transport for nonlinear reactions in heterogeneous media , 2010 .

[7]  Markus Berger,et al.  Water accounting and vulnerability evaluation (WAVE): considering atmospheric evaporation recycling and the risk of freshwater depletion in water footprinting. , 2014, Environmental science & technology.

[8]  Rodney J. Keenan,et al.  Planted forests and water in perspective , 2007 .

[9]  Margarida Tomé,et al.  Calibration and testing of a generalized process-based model for use in Portuguese eucalyptus plantations , 2006 .

[10]  P. Juliano,et al.  The water footprint of food waste: case study of fresh mango in Australia. J Clean Prod , 2010 .

[11]  A. M. Abu-Awwad,et al.  Water harvesting and infiltration in arid areas affected by surface crust: examples from Jordan , 1997 .

[12]  David Ellison,et al.  Is the Water Footprint an Appropriate Tool for Forestry and Forest Products: The Fennoscandian Case , 2013, AMBIO.

[13]  Lu Zhang,et al.  Response of mean annual evapotranspiration to vegetation changes at catchment scale , 2001 .

[14]  Kevin E. Trenberth,et al.  Atmospheric moisture recycling : Role of advection and local evaporation , 1999 .

[15]  M. Huijbregts,et al.  Characterization factors for inland water eutrophication at the damage level in life cycle impact assessment , 2011 .

[16]  Leaf area estimation from three allometrics in Eucalyptus globulus plantations , 1997 .

[17]  M. Huijbregts,et al.  Assessing the importance of spatial variability versus model choices in Life Cycle Impact Assessment: the case of freshwater eutrophication in Europe. , 2013, Environmental science & technology.

[18]  D. Ellison,et al.  On the forest cover–water yield debate: from demand- to supply-side thinking , 2012, Global Change Biology.

[19]  Hubert H. G. Savenije,et al.  Origin and fate of atmospheric moisture over continents , 2010 .

[20]  L. S. Pereira,et al.  Crop evapotranspiration : guidelines for computing crop water requirements , 1998 .

[21]  Peter H. Gleick,et al.  Comprehensive Assessment of the Freshwater Resources of the World , 1997 .

[22]  Dominik Saner,et al.  Effects of Consumptive Water Use on Biodiversity in Wetlands of International Importance , 2013, Environmental science & technology.

[23]  E. Rotenberg,et al.  Ecohydrology of a semi‐arid forest: partitioning among water balance components and its implications for predicted precipitation changes , 2010 .

[24]  M. Huijbregts,et al.  Spatially explicit fate factors of phosphorous emissions to freshwater at the global scale , 2012, The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment.

[25]  Lu Zhang,et al.  Global impacts of conversions from natural to agricultural ecosystems on water resources: Quantity versus quality , 2007 .

[26]  S. Pfister,et al.  Assessing the Environmental Impact of Water Consumption by Energy Crops Grown in Spain , 2013 .

[27]  Hubert H. G. Savenije,et al.  Analyzing precipitationsheds to understand the vulnerability of rainfall dependent regions , 2011 .

[28]  S. Pfister,et al.  Assessing the environmental impacts of freshwater consumption in LCA. , 2009, Environmental science & technology.

[29]  R. Vertessy,et al.  Factors determining relations between stand age and catchment water balance in mountain ash forests , 2001 .

[30]  R. Waring,et al.  A generalised model of forest productivity using simplified concepts of radiation-use efficiency, carbon balance and partitioning , 1997 .

[31]  S. Gower,et al.  Applications of physiological ecology to forest management , 1996 .

[32]  Stephan Pfister,et al.  Review of methods addressing freshwater use in life cycle inventory and impact assessment , 2013, The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment.

[33]  Francesca Verones,et al.  Water in life cycle assessment—50th Swiss Discussion Forum on Life Cycle Assessment—Zürich, 4 December 2012 , 2013, The International Journal of Life Cycle Assessment.

[34]  G. Nanson,et al.  Why some alluvial rivers develop an anabranching pattern , 2007 .

[35]  Nelson da Franca Ribeiro dos Anjos,et al.  Source Book of Alternative Technologies for Freshwater Augmentation in Latin America and the Caribbean , 1998 .

[36]  M. Aldaya,et al.  The Water Footprint Assessment Manual: Setting the Global Standard , 2011 .

[37]  A. W. Küchler.  Potential Natural Vegetation of the Conterminous United States , 1965 .

[38]  Stephan Pfister,et al.  Estimating water consumption of potential natural vegetation on global dry lands: building an LCA framework for green water flows. , 2013, Environmental science & technology.

[39]  N. Ramankutty,et al.  Estimating historical changes in global land cover: Croplands from 1700 to 1992 , 1999 .

[40]  N. Ramankutty,et al.  Green surprise? How terrestrial ecosystems could affect earth’s climate , 2003 .

[41]  M. Huijbregts,et al.  Characterization factors for water consumption and greenhouse gas emissions based on freshwater fish species extinction. , 2011, Environmental science & technology.

[42]  A. Chapagain,et al.  Assessing freshwater use impacts in LCA: Part I—inventory modelling and characterisation factors for the main impact pathways , 2009 .

[43]  Pedro Arsénio,et al.  A methodological approach to potential vegetation modeling using GIS techniques and phytosociological expert-knowledge: application to mainland Portugal , 2007 .

[44]  Petra Döll,et al.  Taking into account environmental water requirements in global-scale water resources assessments. , 2004 .

[45]  J. Jones,et al.  Sediment targets for informing river catchment management: international experience and prospects , 2011 .

[46]  Carl Folke,et al.  Linkages among water vapour flows, food production and terrestrial ecosystem services. , 1999 .

[47]  Stefanie Hellweg,et al.  Impacts of river water consumption on aquatic biodiversity in life cycle assessment--a proposed method, and a case study for Europe. , 2014, Environmental science & technology.

[48]  Mark A J Huijbregts,et al.  Implementing groundwater extraction in life cycle impact assessment: characterization factors based on plant species richness for The Netherlands. , 2011, Environmental science & technology.

[49]  J. Monteith,et al.  Principles of Environmental Physics , 2014 .

[50]  R. Pielke,et al.  Impacts of regional land use and land cover on rainfall : an overview , 2006 .

[51]  K. Strzepek,et al.  Comprehensive assessment of the freshwater resources of the world. Water futures: assessment of long-range patterns and problems. , 1997 .

[52]  Bart Muys,et al.  Assessment of land use impact on water-related ecosystem services capturing the integrated terrestrial-aquatic system. , 2009, Environmental science & technology.

[53]  S. Seneviratne,et al.  Recent decline in the global land evapotranspiration trend due to limited moisture supply , 2010, Nature.

[54]  Pamela S. Naden,et al.  THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN FINE SEDIMENT AND MACROPHYTES IN RIVERS , 2012 .

[55]  N. Zazanashvili,et al.  The Map of the Natural Vegetation of Europe and its application in the Caucasus Ecoregion , 2007 .

[56]  Lu Zhang,et al.  Predicting the effect of vegetation changes on catchment average water balance , 1999 .

[57]  A. Boulay,et al.  Regional characterization of freshwater Use in LCA: modeling direct impacts on human health. , 2011, Environmental science & technology.