Improvement of sustainability indicators when traditional water management changes: a case study in Alicante (Spain)

Laura Romero; Modesto Pérez-Sánchez; P. Amparo López-Jiménez; Laura Romero; Modesto Pérez-Sánchez; P. Amparo López-Jiménez

doi:10.3934/environsci.2017.3.502

AIMS Environmental Science

2017, Volume 4, Issue 3: 502-522. doi: 10.3934/environsci.2017.3.502

Previous Article Next Article

Research article Special Issues

Improvement of sustainability indicators when traditional water management changes: a case study in Alicante (Spain)

Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering Department. Universitat Politécnica de Valencia. Camino de Vera s.n. 46022. Valencia, Spain

Received: 30 January 2017 Accepted: 23 May 2017 Published: 31 May 2017

Pressurized water systems are designed to guarantee the flow demanded by each user, considering the minimum required pressure. The pressurized water systems have increased water efficiency since their implantation, but they also increased the consumed energy and therefore, the greenhouse gasses emissions. The present manuscript develops the proposal of the sustainable indicators that were selected through deep review. These indicators are related to social-cultural, economic, and environmental criteria. Furthermore as novelty, they were described and applied on a pressurized water network, complementing the energy indexes usually used in the energy audit. To reach the improvement of the sustainability in water systems, new strategies should be developed to improve all sustainability criteria, included the water and energy efficiency. These strategies were developed and analyzed by using of specific hydraulic software (i.e., EPANET) and they were based on operation rules to estimate the hydraulic values (pressure and flow). The operation and the regulation strategies were applied on a particular case study, in which, the energy saving was 12.26%, the cost saving was 15.54%, the reduction of energy footprint of water was 15.04%, and the decrease of GHG was 12.26% although the increase of the distributed volume was 9.07%. Besides, the supply guarantee for both irrigation and urban water distribution systems was increased in the new proposal of water management. Finally, the proposal to replace of a pressure reduction valve by a sustainability recovery machine (e.g., pump working as turbine) contributed with a generation of renewable energy equal to 103,710 kWh/year.
- sustainability indicators,
- energy efficiency,
- pressurized water systems,
- GHG emissions,
- water efficiency
Citation: Laura Romero, Modesto Pérez-Sánchez, P. Amparo López-Jiménez. Improvement of sustainability indicators when traditional water management changes: a case study in Alicante (Spain)[J]. AIMS Environmental Science, 2017, 4(3): 502-522. doi: 10.3934/environsci.2017.3.502

Related Papers:

Abstract

Pressurized water systems are designed to guarantee the flow demanded by each user, considering the minimum required pressure. The pressurized water systems have increased water efficiency since their implantation, but they also increased the consumed energy and therefore, the greenhouse gasses emissions. The present manuscript develops the proposal of the sustainable indicators that were selected through deep review. These indicators are related to social-cultural, economic, and environmental criteria. Furthermore as novelty, they were described and applied on a pressurized water network, complementing the energy indexes usually used in the energy audit. To reach the improvement of the sustainability in water systems, new strategies should be developed to improve all sustainability criteria, included the water and energy efficiency. These strategies were developed and analyzed by using of specific hydraulic software (i.e., EPANET) and they were based on operation rules to estimate the hydraulic values (pressure and flow). The operation and the regulation strategies were applied on a particular case study, in which, the energy saving was 12.26%, the cost saving was 15.54%, the reduction of energy footprint of water was 15.04%, and the decrease of GHG was 12.26% although the increase of the distributed volume was 9.07%. Besides, the supply guarantee for both irrigation and urban water distribution systems was increased in the new proposal of water management. Finally, the proposal to replace of a pressure reduction valve by a sustainability recovery machine (e.g., pump working as turbine) contributed with a generation of renewable energy equal to 103,710 kWh/year.

References

[1]	Pérez-Sánchez M, Sánchez-Romero F, Ramos H, et al. (2016) Modeling irrigation networks for the quantification of potential energy recovering: a case study. Water 8: 1-26. doi: 10.3390/w8010026
[2]	Institute of the diversification and saving of the energy. Saving and energy efficiency in irrigated farming. Madrid, Spain; 2005.
[3]	Makropoulos CK, Natsis K, Liu S, et al. (2008) Decision support for sustainable option selection in integrated urban water management. Environ Modell Softw 23: 1448-1460. doi: 10.1016/j.envsoft.2008.04.010
[4]	Rodríguez Díaz JA, Poyato EC, Blanco Pérez M (2011) Evaluation of water and energy use in pressurized irrigation networks in southern Spain. J Irrig Drain Eng 137: 644-650. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)IR.1943-4774.0000338
[5]	Rijsberman MA, Van de Ven FHM (2000) Different approaches to assessment of design and management of sustainable urban water systems. EIA Rev 20: 333-345.
[6]	FAO Aquastat 2015. Available from: http://www.fao.org/nr/water/aquastat/data/query/results.html?regionQuery=true&yearGrouping=SURVEY&showCodes=false&yearRange.fromYear=1958&yearRange.toYear=2017&varGrpIds=4250%2C4251%2C4252%2C4253%2C4257&cntIds=®Ids=9805%2C9806%2C9807%2C9808%2C9809&edit.
[7]	Mushtaq S, Marasenia TN, Reardon-Smitha K, et al. (2015) Integrated assessment of water-energy-GHG emissions tradeoffs in an irrigated lucerne production system in eastern Australia. J Clean Prod 103: 491-498. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2014.05.037
[8]	Romero L, Pérez-Sánchez M, López-Jiménez P (2017) Water implications in Mediterranean irrigation networks: problems & solutions. Int J Energy Environ 8: 83-96.
[9]	Jiménez-Bello MA, Royuela A, Manzano J, et al. (2015) Methodology to improve water and energy use by proper irrigation scheduling in pressurised networks. Agric Water Manag 149: 91-101. doi: 10.1016/j.agwat.2014.10.026
[10]	Prats AG, Picó SG, Alzamora FM, et al. (2011) Random scenarios generation with minimum energy consumption model for sectoring optimization in pressurized irrigation networks using a simulated annealing approach.
[11]	López-Cortijo I, Esquiroz JC, Aliod R, et al. (2007) Determination of the energy costs with pumped group in pressurized water networks in: XXV Irrigation National Congress. Pamplona.
[12]	Pulido-Calvo I, Roldán J, López-Luque R, et al. (2003) Water Delivery System Planning Considering Irrigation Simultaneity. J Irrig Drain E-ASCE 129: 247-255. doi: 10.1061/(ASCE)0733-9437(2003)129:4(247)
[13]	Servicio Integral de Asesoramiento al Regante (2009) Eficiencia energética en instalaciones de riego. Hoja Informativa, Abril 2009, Nº17.
[14]	Moreno MA, Planells P, Córcoles JI, et al. (2009) Development of a new methodology to obtain the characteristic pump curves that minimize the total cost at pumping stations. Biosyst Eng 102: 95-105. doi: 10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2008.09.024
[15]	Cabrera E, Cabrera E Jr, Cobacho R, et al. (2014) Towards an energy labelling of pressurized water networks. Procedia Engineering 70: 209-217.
[16]	Cabrera E (2012) Urban and industrial water use challenges. Water, Agriculture and the Environment in Spain: can we square the circle? 165.
[17]	García Molla M, Ortega Reig MV, Sanchis Ibor C, et al. (2014) The effects of irrigation modernization on the cost recovery of water in the Valencia Region (Spain). Water Sci Technol 14: 414-420.
[18]	Carravetta A, Del Giudice G, Fecarotta O, et al. (2013) Pump as turbine (PAT) design in water distribution network by system effectiveness. Water 5: 1211-1225. doi: 10.3390/w5031211
[19]	Puleo V, Fontanazza CM, Notaro V, et al. (2014) Pumps as turbines (PATs) in water distribution networks affected by intermittent service. J Hydroinform 16: 259-271. doi: 10.2166/hydro.2013.200
[20]	Lundin M, Morrison GM (2002) A life cycle assessment based procedure for development of environmental sustainability indicators for urban water systems. Urban Water 4: 145-152. doi: 10.1016/S1462-0758(02)00015-8
[21]	Rossman LA, EPANET 2 User's manual; U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA): Cincinnati, OH, USA, 2000
[22]	ASCE and UNESCO. Sustainability Criteria for Water Resource Systems-Prepared by the Task Committee on Sustainability Criteria, Water Resource Planning and Management Division. Virginia, USA: ASCE, ASCE, and working group UNESCO/IHP IV project M-4.3, 1998.
[23]	Ayres RU (1996) Statistical measures of unsustainability. Ecol Econom 16: 239-255. doi: 10.1016/0921-8009(95)00091-7
[24]	Balkema A, Weijers SR, Lambert FJD (1998) On methodologies for comparison of wastewater treatment systems with respect to sustainability. Proc WIMEK Congress on Options for Closed Water Systems, Wageningen, The Netherlands. 1998: 11-13.
[25]	Graaf J van der, Meester-Broertjes HA, Bruggeman WA, et al. (1997) Sustainable technological development for urban-water cycles. Water Sci Technol 35: 213-220.
[26]	Lundin M, Molander S, Morrison GM (1999) A set of indicators for the assessment of temporal variations in the sustainability of sanitary systems. Water Sci Technol 39: 235-242.
[27]	Hellström D, Jeppssonb U, Kärrmanc E (2000) A framework for systems analysis of sustainable urban water management. EIA Review 20: 311-321.
[28]	Teixeira MR, Mendes P, Murta E, et al. (2016) Performance indicators matrix as a methodology for energy management in municipal water services. J Clean Prod 125: 108-120. doi: 10.1016/j.jclepro.2016.03.016
[29]	Lundin M, Bengtsson M, Molander S (2000) Life cycle assessment of wastewater systems: influence of system boundaries and scale on calculated environmental loads. Environ Sci Technol 34: 180-186.
[30]	Roeleveld PJ, Klapwijk A, Eggels PG, et al. (1997) Sustainability of municipal wastewater treatment. Environ Sci Technol 35: 221-228.
[31]	Tillman AM, Lundström H, Svingby M (1998) Life cycle assessment of municipal waste water systems. Int J LCA 3: 145-157.
[32]	Kärrman E, Jönsson H (1999) Normalising impacts in an environmental systems analysis of wastewater systems. In: Proceedings of the 1st world congress on water quality, Paris, France.
[33]	Emmerson RHC, Morse GK, Leshter JN, et al. (1995) The life-cycle analysis of small-scale sewage treatment processes. Water Environ J 9: 317-325.
[34]	Weaver P, Jansen L, van Grootveld G, et al. (2000) LCA as a steering tool: the case of the municipal water system. Sustainable Technology Development.
[35]	Neumayr R, Dietrich R, Steinmüller H (1997) Life cycle assessment of sewage sludge treatment. 5th SETAC Annual Conference, December, Brussels.
[36]	Sonesson U, Björklund A, Carlsson M, et al. (2000) Environmental and economic analysis for biodegradable waste. Resour Conserv Recy 28: 29-53.
[37]	Pardo MA, Manzano J, Cabrera E, et al. (2013) Energy audit of irrigation networks. Biosyst Eng 115: 89-101. doi: 10.1016/j.biosystemseng.2013.02.005
[38]	Institute of the diversification and saving of the energy. Saving and energy efficiency in the irrigation comunities. Madrid, Spain; 2008.
[39]	Templeton MR, Hammoud AS, Butler AP, et al. (2015) Nitrate pollution of groundwater by pit latrines in developing countries. AIMS Environ Sci 2: 302-313. doi: 10.3934/environsci.2015.2.302
[40]	Spadaro JV, Langlois L, Hamilton B (2000) Greenhouse gas emissions of electricity generation chains: assessing the difference. IAEA Bull 42: 19-28.
[41]	Bru C, Cabrera E (2010) Water, History and sustainability, a complex trinomial hard to harmonise in the mediterranean countries. Water Engineering and Management through Time. Learning from History, 171.
[42]	Coromias J (2000) The economical function of the groundwater resources in Andalusia. Fundación Marcelino Botín. Madrid, Spain.
[43]	Marrero LR, Pérez-Sánchez M, López-Jiménez P (2017) Environmental and Energy problematic in the Mediterranean irrigation regions framework. Int J Energy Environ 8: 51-62.
[44]	Soler E (2016) Establishment of criteria for the rational fertilization of the loquat (Eriobotrya Japonica Lindl.). PhD. Universitat Politècnica de València. Available from: https://riunet.upv.es/handle/10251/62199.

Reader Comments

Your name:*

Email:*
© 2017 the Author(s), licensee AIMS Press. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0)