Evaluating the Impact of Climate Change Mitigation Strategies on the Optimal Design and Expansion of the Amherstview, Ontario, Water Network: Canadian Case Study
Publication: Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 138, Issue 2
Abstract
The objective of this paper is to assess the impact of proposed Canadian climate change mitigation policies (discounting and carbon pricing) on cost, energy use, and greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions in the single-objective design/expansion optimization of the Amherstview water distribution system in Amherstview, Ontario, Canada. The single-objective optimization problem is solved with the elitist genetic algorithm (EGA). The optimization approach is used in a parametric analysis to examine the impact of discounting and carbon pricing on GHG reductions for cement-mortar ductile iron and polyvinyl chloride pipe materials. Preliminary results indicate that the discount rate and carbon prices investigated had no significant influence on energy use and GHG mass in the Amherstview system and did not meet the emission-reduction targets set by the Canadian government. This result was attributed to a number of factors, including adequately installed hydraulic capacity in the Amherstview system, the use of a time-declining GHG emission intensity factor, and the scope of the expansion problem.
Get full access to this article
View all available purchase options and get full access to this article.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank David Thompson, P.Eng., M. J. Merritt, P.Eng., and Alex Scott (CTech) at Loyalist Township for their contributions to the development of this paper. This research was financially supported by Queen’s University and the Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC).
References
Ambrose, M. D., Salomonsson, G. D., and Burn, S. (2002). “Piping systems embodied energy analysis.” CMIT Doc. 02/302, CSIRO Manufacturing and Infrastructure Technology, Highett, Australia.
Bank of Canada. (2009). “Monthly and average of exchange rates.” 〈http://www.bankofcanada.ca/rates/exchange/exchange-rates-in-pdf/〉 (Aug. 3, 2009).
Bhandari, D., Murphy, C. A., and Pal, S. K. (1996). “Genetic algorithm with elitist model and its convergence.” Int. J. Pattern Recognit. Artif. Intell., 10(6), 731–747.
Boardman, A. E., Moore, M. A., and Vining, A. R. (2008). “Social discount rates for canada.” John Deutsch Institute Conference: Discount Rates for the Evaluation of Public Private Partnerships, Kingston, Ontario, Canada.
Burgess, D. F. (1981). “The social discount rate for Canada: Theory and practice.” Can. Public Policy, 7(3), 383–394.
CH2M Hill. (2007). Fairfield water storage project—Final report, CH2M Hill, Ottawa.
Cline, W. R. (1992). The economics of global warming, Institute for International Economics, Washington, D.C.
Clarke, A., Grant, N., and Thornton, J. (2009). Quantifying the energy and carbon effects of water saving, Environment Agency, Rotterdam, U.K.
Cuddihy, J., Kennedy, C., and Byer, P. (2005). “Energy use in Canada: Environmental impacts and opportunities in relationship to infrastructure systems.” Can. J. Civ. Eng., 32, 1–15.
Dandy, G., Roberts, A., Hewitson, C., and Chrystie, P. (2006). “Sustainability objectives for the optimization of water distribution networks.” 8th Annual Water Distribution Systems Analysis Symp. Cincinnati.
Dandy, G., Bogdanowicz, A., Craven, J., Maywald, A., and Liu, P. (2008). “Optimizing the sustainability of water distribution systems.” WDSA 2008, South Africa.
Dennison, F. J., Azapagic, A., Clift, R., and Colbourne, J. S. (1999). “Life cycle assessment: Comparing strategic options for the mains infrastructure. Part I.” Water Sci. Technol., 39(10–11), 315–319.
Electric Power Research Institute. (1994). Energy audit manual for water/wastewater facilities, EPRI, Palo Alto, CA.
Engineering News Report (ENR). (2009). “Construction cost index history.” 〈http://enr.construction.com/〉 (Aug. 3, 2009).
Environment Canada. (2009). National inventory report: Greenhouse gas sources and sinks in Canada, Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication, Gatineau, Quebec.
Fearnside, P. M. (2002). “Time preference in global warming calculations: A proposal for a unified index.” Ecol. Econ., 41(1), 21–31.
Filion, Y. R., Mac Lean, H. L., and Karney, B. W. (2004). “Life-cycle energy analysis of a water distribution system.” J. Infrastruct. Syst., 10(3), 120–130.
Fire Underwriters Survey (FUS). (1999). Water supply for public protection, CGI Group Inc., Markham, Ontario.
Ghimire, S. R., and Barkdoll, B. D. (2007). “Incorporating environmental impact decision making for municipal drinking water distribution systems through eco-efficiency analysis.” Proc., EWRI-2007, ASCE, Reston, VA, 1–10.
Griffiths-Sattenspiel, B., and Wilson, W. (2009). “The carbon footprint of water.” River network, 〈http://www.rivernetwork.org/blog/7/2009/05/13/carbon-footprint-water〉 (Feb. 16, 2012).
Hasselmann, K., Hasselmann, S., Giering, R., Ocana, V., and Storch, H. V. (1997). “Sensitivity study of optimal emission paths using a simplified structural integrated assessment model (SIAM).” Clim. Change, 37(2), 345–386.
Herstein, L. M., Filion, Y. R., and Hall, K. (2009). “Evaluating environmental impact in water distribution system design.” J. Infrastruct. Syst., 15(3), 241–250.
Herstein, L., Filion, Y. R., and Hall, K. (2011). “Evaluating the environmental impacts of water distribution systems using EIO-LCA-based multi-objective optimization.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage., 137(2), 162–172.
Hudson, W. D. (1966). “Studies of distribution system capacity in seven cities.” J. Am. Water Works Assoc., 58(2), 157–164.
Jenkins, G. P., and Kuo, C. Y. (2007). “The economic opportunity cost of capital for canada—An empirical update.” Queen’s Economics Dept. Working Paper No. 1133, Kingston, Ontario.
Larson, T. E., and Sollo, F. R. (1967). “Loss in water main carrying capacity.” J. Am. Water Works Assoc., 59(12), 1565–1572.
Lundie, S., Peters, G. M., and Beavis, P. C. (2004). “Life cycle assessment for sustainable metropolitan water systems planning.” Environ. Sci. Technol., 38(13), 3465–3473.
Lundie, S., Peters, G. M., and Beavis, P. C. (2005). “Quantitative systems analysis as a strategic planning approach for metropolitan water service providers.” Water Sci. Technol., 52(9), 11–20.
Majumdar, J., and Bhunia, A. K. (2007). “Elitist genetic algorithm for assignment problem with imprecise goal.” Eur. J. Oper. Res., 177(2), 684–692.
National Energy Board (NEB). (2007). Canada’s energy future reference case and scenarios to 2030: An energy market assessment, National Energy Board Publications, Calgary.
National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE). (2007). Getting to 2050: Canada’s transition to a low-emission future, Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication, Ottawa.
National Round Table on the Environment and the Economy (NRTEE). (2009). Achieving 2050: A carbon pricing policy for Canada, Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication, Ottawa.
Nordhaus, W. D. (1991). “To slow or not to slow: The economics of the greenhouse effect.” Econ. J., 101(407), 920–937.
Ontario Energy Board (OEB). (2008). Regulated price plan price report, Queens Printer for Ontario, Toronto.
Rossman, L. A. (2000). EPANET2 user’s manual, U.S. EPA, Washington, D.C.
S & T Consultants Inc. (2008). 2008 GHGenius update, Natural Resources Canada, Ottawa.
Stern, Nicholas, Peters, S., Bakhshi, V., Bowen, A., Cameron, C., Catovsky, S., Crane, D., Cruickshank, S., Dietz, S., Edmonson, N., Garbett, S. L., Hamid, L., Hoffman, G., Ingram, D., Jones, B., Patmore, N., Radcliffe, H., Sathiyarajah, R., Stock, M., Taylor, C., Vernon, T., Wanjie, H., and Zenghelis, D. (2006). Stern review: The economics of climate change, HM Treasury, London.
Stokes, J., and Horvath, A. (2005). “Life cycle energy assessment of alternative water supply systems.” Int. J. Life Cycle Assess., 11(5), 335–343.
Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS). (2007). Benefit-cost analysis guide—Interim report, Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat, Ottawa.
Walski, T. M. (1986). “Predicting costs of pipe cleaning and lining projects.” J. Transp. Eng., 112(3), 317–327.
Wu, W., Simpson, A. R., and Maier, H. R. (2008). “Multi-objective genetic algorithm optimization of water distribution systems accounting for sustainability.” 10th Annual Symp. Water Distribution Systems Analysis, South Africa.
Wu, W., Maier, H. R., and Simpson, A. R. (2010a). “Single-objective versus multi-objective optimization of water distribution systems accounting for greenhouse gas emissions by carbon pricing.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage., 136(5), 555–565.
Wu, W., Simpson, A. R., and Maier, H. R. (2010b). “Accounting for greenhouse gas emissions in multi-objective genetic algorithm optimization of water distribution systems.” J. Water Resour. Plann. Manage., 136(2), 146–155.
Information & Authors
Information
Published In
Journal of Water Resources Planning and Management
Volume 138 • Issue 2 • March 2012
Pages: 100 - 110
Copyright
© 2012 American Society of Civil Engineers.
History
Received: Jun 6, 2010
Accepted: Apr 30, 2011
Published online: May 13, 2011
Published in print: Mar 1, 2012
Authors
Metrics & Citations
Metrics
Citations
Download citation
If you have the appropriate software installed, you can download article citation data to the citation manager of your choice. Simply select your manager software from the list below and click Download.