A life cycle assessment (LCA) was carried out on three separate drinking water production options—a groundwater treatment plant (GWTP), surface water treatment plant and seawater desalination plant (electrodialysis) in order to calculate the carbon footprint associated with each process and to identify the areas of production with high levels of GHG emissions in order to develop strategies for reducing their carbon footprint. The results obtained from the LCA show that the highest GHG emissions are from the seawater desalination plant via electrodialysis (ED) where the GHG emissions were 2.46 kg CO2 equivalent (eq). By comparison, the GWTP has the lowest carbon footprint emitting some 0.38 kg CO2 eq for water delivery to households. The GHG emission contribution of electricity generation for the GWTP, surface water treatment plant and seawater ED plants was 95, 82 and 98 %, respectively. Furthermore, the GHG emissions associated with this production process can be further reduced by including renewable energy power generation in its operations.

中文翻译：

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使用可再生能源改善水处理的碳足迹：西澳大利亚案例研究

对三个单独的饮用水生产方案（地下水处理厂（GWTP），地表水处理厂和海水淡化厂（电渗析））进行了生命周期评估（LCA），以计算与每个过程相关的碳足迹，并计算出确定高温室气体排放量的生产区域，以制定减少碳足迹的策略。从LCA获得的结果表明，最高的温室气体排放是通过电渗析（ED）从海水淡化厂中产生的，其中的温室气体排放量为2.46千克二氧化碳当量（eq）。相比之下，GWTP的碳足迹最低，排放约0.38千克的CO2当量，可为家庭供水。GWTP发电的温室气体排放贡献，地表水处理厂和海水淡化厂分别为95％，82％和98％。此外，通过将可再生能源发电纳入其生产过程，可以进一步减少与此生产过程相关的温室气体排放。