Life-Cycle Perspective on Residential Water Conservation Strategies
Publication: Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 16, Issue 1
Abstract
Motivated by the desire to understand the impact of water supply systems on the environment, a life cycle-based hybrid methodology is used to assess the performance of two conservation scenarios, water efficiency, and rainwater harvesting, relative to the base case. The analysis carried out for the City of Toronto’s residential sector estimates the operational energy use and GHG emissions, and the embodied burdens associated with water-efficient devices and rainwater tanks. Hydraulic simulations, performed on a hypothetical network to expose the impact of demand peak factor on pressure distribution at nodes, revealed some of the rainwater scenario strengths such as hydraulic stress curtailment and capital investment postponement. While both strategies led to significant water savings, the associated energy expenditures and emissions varied with the selection of system boundaries. Nevertheless, both conservation strategies are worthwhile pursuing for rendering the existing water systems more sustainable.
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Acknowledgments
The writers thank the Canadian Climate Change Action Fund and the Canadian Water Network for their financial support of this research, and to Kevin Waher for his help with the literature review.
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Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Infrastructure Systems
Volume 16 • Issue 1 • March 2010
Pages: 40 - 49
Copyright
© 2010 ASCE.
History
Received: Nov 27, 2007
Accepted: Jul 29, 2009
Published online: Feb 12, 2010
Published in print: Mar 2010
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