Life cycle assessment of drinking water installations: existing studies and analysis of discrepancies

This paper gives an overview of existing Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) studies of drinking water installations in Europe. The characteristics and results of the two most widely known and used studies, the VENOB study and the CREM study, are described in detail. Readers get a thorough understanding of the key issues and parameters of life cycle studies in this field. As the study results diverge significantly, the authors analyse the reasons for this discrepancy, classifying them into the categories 'goal and scope', 'methodology', 'data' and 'review'. This case study analysis may be of potential interest to those who deal with comparative LCA studies.