Environmental assessment of construction and renovation of water distribution networks considering uncertainty analysis

Abstract

Applying life cycle assessment (LCA) to water distribution networks (WDNs) usually requires considerable reliable data, and neglecting specific parts could significantly affect the reliability of results. In this paper, a comprehensive life cycle inventory dataset was collected to evaluate the environmental burdens associated with the construction and renovation stages of WDNs. The aim is to explore the effects of the availability of primary and secondary data on the LCA results based on analysis of uncertainties. The results indicate the importance of considering road construction processes, especially for small-to-medium-sized plastic pipes. Although recovering energy from the incineration of plastic pipes partially compensates for the impacts at the end of life, these incineration processes significantly affect the global warming potential. Finally, this study demonstrates that without considering all known information (e.g., network data), reliable LCA for WDNs can be performed, providing suggestions on which data to focus on in data collection process.