CIRAIG – Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal www.wulca-waterlca.org

Complementarities of Water-Focused Life Cycle
Assessment and Water Footprint Assessment
Based on Boulay, Vionnet et Hoekstra, 2013
Anne-Marie Boulay, Ph.D.
CIRAIG – Ecole Polytechnique de Montreal
anne-marie.boulay@polymtl.ca
www.wulca-waterlca.org
As Kelvin said…
“If you can not measure it,
you can not improve it.”
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Common goal: help practitioners
preserve water resources
LCA WF: quantifying potential
environmental impacts related to water
generated by a human activity
WFA: addresses freshwater resources
appropriation, primarily designed to support
better water management, including its use
and allocation
Life Cycle approach: a global view
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http://www.linkcycle.com
Mid-point – damage conventional framework
Pesticide
SO2
Cu
CO2
Phosphate
…
Irrigation
Water
Crude Oil
Iron Ore
…
Mid-point – damage conventional framework
Problems
Methodological
tool, decision making
Respiratory effects
Areas of
protection
QuantifiesPhotochem.
potential
environmental impacts
oxydation
Pesticide
SO2
Cu Entire
CO2
ISO
Phosphate
…
Ozone layer depletion
life cycle of a product
Human Health
Ionizing radiation
standardsToxic
14 Impacts
040/44
Global warming
Ecosystem Quality
Water availability
Irrigation
Water
Crude Oil
Iron Ore
…
Acidification
Eutrophication
Resources
Land use
Biotic ressource use
Abiotic ressouce use
Jolliet 2004, Life cycle initiative
From inventory, to risk, to impacts…
Inventory
of water
use and
emissions
Waterrelated
problems
(midpoint)
Waterrelated
damages (or
endpoint)
WATER
FOOTPRINT
Resource
Availability
Pollution
Toxicity
Acidification
Eutrophication
Human health
Ecosystem quality
Resources
[DALY / y]
[PDF-m2-y / y]
[MJ / y]
(c) Quantis
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Water Footprint Network (WFN)
A Volumetric Approach:
Blue water
Green water
Grey water
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Water Footprint Network vs LCA
Frameworks
WFN framework
Phase 1
Setting goals and
scope
Phase 2
Water footprint
accounting
Phase 3
Water footprint
sustainability
assessment
Phase 4
Water footprint
response
formulation
LCA framework
Goal and scope
definition
Quantiative indicators (blue,
green and grey water
footprint)
Quantiative indicators
(environmental impacts)
Inventory analysis
Impact
assessment
Generic framework
steps
Setting the goal and scope
Accounting phase
Impact assessment phase
Interpretation
Source: Boulay, Vionnet et Hoekstra, 2013
Interpretation and solutions
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Opportunities for LCA
Inventory
Blue WF can serve as inventory flow in LCA
Impact Assessment
Blue water scarcity indicator is similar to LCA indicators and
harmonization could be sought
Interpretation
Sustainability assessment and response formulation from WFA
could be used to further develop the interpretation of LCA
quantitative results.
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Opportunities for WFA
Accounting
Use of LCA inventory data, especially for industrial products.
Sustainability assessment
Consideration of impact assessment methodologies from the
LCA community and joint efforts leading to consensual metrics
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Method development: the
WULCA working group of
the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle
Initiative
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UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative
Water Use in LCA (WULCA)
Founded in 2007, now includes  100 experts from 21 countries
– Phase 1: Proposed a framework to evaluate water in LCA (Bayart et al. 2009)
– Phase 2: Review of different methods (Kounina et al. 2012)
– Phase 3: Quantitative comparison (Boulay et al A and B, under review)
Current mandate (2014-2015):
Guide the scientific development of a consensual and
operational method which shall be in line with both the
ISO Water Footprint Standard and the LCA principles
www.wulca-waterlca.org
Anne-Marie Boulay, Ph.D.
(Canada)
Project Manager
Stephan Pfister, Ph.D.
(Switzerland)
Deputy Manager
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Anne-Marie Boulay, Ph.D.
CIRAIG – École Polytechnique de Montréal
anne-marie.boulay@polymtl.ca
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Anne-Marie Boulay, Ph.D.
CIRAIG – École Polytechnique de Montréal
anne-marie.boulay@polymtl.ca
TYPES OF METRICS FOR IMPACTS RELATED TO WATER
• Scarcity Indicators – ex: Pfister et al., Boulay et
•
•
•
al (simplified version)
Stress Indicator – ex: Boulay et al., Veolia
method
Quality indicators: Eutrophication, ecotoxicity,
acidification, etc.
Endpoint Modeling: Human health, Ecosystems
and Resources
Scarcity
assessment
OR
Quality
Indicators
Availability
assessment
(scarcity +
quality)
Scarcity
assessment +
quality
indicators
End point
modeling
(quantity and
quality impacts)
INCREASED ENVIRONMENTAL RELEVANCE AND SOPHISTICATION
Water Footprint Training Material
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