1. Behind the Water Footprint Stream -
Metrics and Initiatives
Overview of available metrics to asses potential impacts of water
use and current initiatives integrating them within LCA
Manuele Margni, Ph.D.
Scientific coordinator, CIRAIG
Ecole Polytechnique Montréal
manuele.margni@polymtl.ca
(Incl. material provided by Quantis)

2. CIRAIG Factsheet
Founded in 2000
Multidisciplinary world-renowned research centre
135+ professors, researchers and students
10 universities, 7 Chairs, 5 research units
Member of the UNEP/SETAC Life Cycle Initiative
Numerous collaborations (Canada, USA, Europe)
120+ applied research projects (industry and gov.)
Official spin-off
Expertise:
Carbon and Water footprint
LCA
www.quantis-intl.com
Company-based LCA and
sustainability dashboard
Ecodesign
Environmental communication
2

3. The Water Footprint Stream: Initiatives and timeline
Source: WBCSD 3

4. Which Footprint Is Correct?
Chapagain Humbert et al Humbert et al
and Hoekstra 2009 (1) 2009 (2)
2007
140 L per 29 L per 4 L per serving
But what water is serving serving
important? Includes Includes Includes
“green” water irrigation neither
• There is currently little consistency in the scope of
water footprint and what is measured
• There is nearly no consistency in how to evaluate
impact
4

5. Problem Statement
But what water is
important?
• To know what water is important, we must know
what type of water use occurs and where
• To know the impact of water use, we must know
the impact of each use type in each geography
• The method must be operational for companies to
apply in decision making
5

6. Accounting vs. Impact Assessment vs. Communication

7. Impact Assessment Framework in LCA

8. Water Scarcity Assessment
(«Screening assessment » using Water stress index, WSI)

9. Water Scarcity vs. Full Assessment
DE CH DE CH DE CH
Turbined water
•Importance to check the (range/scope of) validity of the results

10. Why Expanding the Scope of Water Footprint to LCA?
Climate Natural
Waterfootprint Ecosystems Human health
change resources
To avoid burden shifting from an impact category to another
10

11. Framework for Freshwater use In LCA
(UNEP-SETAC LC Initiative)
Inventory Areas of Protection Midpoint Endpoint
Backup All Impact
Technology Categories
Water
deprivation Human
for human Health
HUMAN USES uses
Modification of water
availability for…
Water
Water deprivation Ecosystems
Use ECOSYSTEMS for Quality
ecosystems
Water
FUTURE Natural
deprivation for
GENERATIONS resources
future
generations

12. Human Health Impacts from production of board in
Hanoi for different scenarios
7.E-04
HHImpacts, board production, Hanoi (DALY/ton)
Remaining substances
6.E-04 Arsenic, to air
5.E-04 Arsenic, to water
4.E-04 Dioxins
Ammonia
3.E-04
Hydrocarbons, aromatic
2.E-04
Zinc, to soil
1.E-04
Sulfur dioxide
0.E+00 Particulates, < 2.5 um
Well-treated Average All water Nitrogen oxides
effluent effluent consumed
(S2a) (S3a) (No effluent) WATER 12

13. ... Avoid Taking the Wrong Decision
Spatial variation of blue water consumption bioenergycrop production within
Spain at two different levels:
Impact Assessment Inventory accounting
(Source: Nunez Montserrat, SETAC EU 2010) 13

14. UNEP-SETAC Life Cycle Initiative
International initiative for LCA
Review and characterization of existing
accounting and Impact assessment methods
Recommendations (end 2010) for:
Science
Practitioners (incl. industry)
Contact:
Manuele Margni, CIRAIG
Sebastien Humbert, Quantis
14

15. Towards an International Standard for Water Footprinting
“Water Footprint: Principles, Requirements and
Guidances”
International standard for water footprinting
This International Standard specifies requirements and
guidelines to assess and report water footprint based on
LCA
• Terminology, communication
• Important stages to consider
• Consistency with carbon footprinting and other LCA impact
categories
◦ Scope, system boundary
• Review/Validation
• Reporting
Began 2009, end 2011
Towards industry and practitioners

16. Manuele Margni
CIRAIG – École Polytechnique de Montréal
manuele.margni@polymtl.ca 16

17. “Scope 1” Analogous Tools – “Scope 3” Analogous Tools –
Direct Usage Total Footprint
WBCSD Water Tool Water Footprint Network (WFN)
(Planning update to consider LCA-based footprint
“Scope 2”) Product / Company
GEMI Tools
17

18. From Lack of Methods to Methods Overload?
Inventory (~accounting)
Inventory & What and Ecoinvent
Chapagain
Hoekstra
Bayart GaBi
Categorize How much (m3) Global Mila-I-
Vince
Water Tool Canals
Indexes
Midpoint (~benchmarking)
Scarcity indexes
Chapagain Frischnecht
Falkenmark
Hoekstra (Ecopoints)
Ohlsson
Humans
Humans Ecosystems
Ecosystems Resources
Resources
Potential (heath and stress)
(heath and stress) Gleick
Impact problems?
Water Use Per Resource
Boulay Mila-I-Canals Mila-I-Canals
Seckler
Pfister Pfister Pfister
Smakhtin
Alcamo
Endpoint (Damage)
Pfister
Humans
Humans Ecosystems
Ecosystems Resources
Resources
(health and stress)
(health and stress) Water Resources
Vulnerability Index
Pfister Pfister Pfister
Net Damage Consequences
Raskin
/ damage Maendly Boesch
quantification? Motoshita
Humbert (CExD) Water Poverty Index
Boulay Van Zelm Sullivan
18

19. Risks to Business
Regulatory / Reputational
Physical Risks
Litigation Risks Risks
Supply Chain
Public
Interruptions of Costs of
Production Perceptions and
Productivity Compliance
Brand Reputation
Product Use
19

20. Physical risks
Scarcity
Quality Deficiency or Compensation

21. T-shirt produced in India and Turkey
SIMPLIFIED RESULTS

22. Regionalization of impacts
Risks associated with
water use:
Water pollution
Risks associated Ground water over
with water use: exploitation
Water rights Reduced availability for
Water pollution nutrition
Ground water over
exploitation
Risks Risks associated with
associated with water use:
water use: Water pollution
Water pollution Ground water over
exploitation
River drying
Greenhouse gases emissions
Greenhouse gases emissions (from deforestation)
Water use (including “green water”)
Water impact (human health and ecosystems)

23. Geen Water LCI
(Source: Nunez Montserrat, SETAC EU 2010) 23

24. Implications of Water Shortages
• Ecosystem quality
• Lakes and rivers drying
• Disappearance of wetlands
• Lack of water for wildlife
• Human health and welfare
• Disease
• Displacement
• Conflict / warfare
• Nutrition
• Economic development
• Resources
• Future development and response
24

25. About Quantis
A Global Presence Diverse Clientele
Academic Partners
25

26. INVENTORY IN THE MODEL
The method assesses the impacts of the water
withdrawal and credits the impacts of the water release
HH impact i
(CFi Vi )
HHimpact = Human health impacts in Daly
CFi = Characterization factor for water type i for the impact
category Human Health (in Daly/m3 of water type i consumed)
Vi = Volume of water type i – inventory value (in m3), positive value
for water withdrawn and negative value for released flows
26

27. INVENTORY
13 Water classes described by:
- Source (surface, ground or rain)
- Quality (34 parameters + organics)
- Users it can be functional for
Class Source Quality Users it can serve
i
S1 Surface low microbial, low toxic All users
S2a Surface low microbial, medium All except Domestic 1 and
toxic fisheries
… … … …
G1 Ground Mediocre quality All offstream users
water
…
Rain Rain All users
27

28. DIRECT IMPACTS ON HUMAN HEALTH
CFi ( i Di , j 1 AC Ej )
j
FATE EXPOSURE EFFECT
i: Scarcity of water class i (dimensionless)
Di,j: User j distribution of water class i (dimensionless)
AC : Adaptation capacity (dimensionless)
E j: Effect factor for user j (DALY/m³)
28

29. SURFACE WATER SCARCITY
CFi ( i Di , j 1 AC Ej )
j
PROPOSED AS A MIDPOINT INDICATOR 29

30. DIRECT IMPACTS ON HUMAN HEALTH – EFFECT FACTOR
CFi ( i Di , j 1 AC Ej )
j
Di,j = User’s distribution of water type i for activity j (no units)
• Assesses the proportion of the elementary flow affecting
each user.
• Based on
1) Quality of the water : its functionality
2) Geographical region :intensity of each activity in
that region
30

31. DIRECT IMPACTS ON HUMAN HEALTH – ADAPTATION CAPACITY
CFi ( i Di , j 1 AC Ej )
j
100% compensation
Proportional adaptation
No compensation
Proportional adaptation
31

32. DIRECT IMPACTS ON HUMAN HEALTH – EFFECT FACTOR
CFi ( i Di , j 1 AC Ej )
j
Ej = Effect factor for user j (daly/m3)
Efish/agriculture = Health Burden by kcal malnutrition* (Daly/kcal)
(DALY/m3)
Water requirement per kcal (m3/kcal)
Edomestic = Health Impacts from water related issues* (Daly/yr)
(DALY/m3) Water in deficit for domestic use* (m3/yr)
Effect factors Ej (DALY/m3)
Agriculture Fisheries Domestic * Data by country,
geometric average used
6.64 x 10-5 2.05 x 10-5 3.11 x 10-3 to produce resulting
Effect factor 32

33. HOW MUCH WATER SHOULD BE COMPENSATED?
Backup All Impact
Technology Categories
Human
Water Health
deprivation
for human Ecosystems
Modification of uses
HUMAN USES Quality
water availability
for…
Natural
IScomp,i Di , j i CA resources
j
IScomp,i = Impact Score of compensation for water of class i
(m³to be compensated/m³water class i)
2 options:
- Aggregated (as an indicator)
- Desaggregated (by user) for modeling of
compensation by system expansion 33

34. USING GIS FOR COMBINING SCALE
0.5° x 0.5° grid
808 Resulting cells
Water consumption
Water availability All data
227 Main Watersheds
Some quality data
208 countries
Adaptation capacity
Some quality data
Some statistical data 34

35. RESULTS – HUMAN HEALTH CF
35

36. RESULTS – COMPENSATION
36

37. APPLICATION
• Board production from recycled fibers
Parameter Description
Influent 17.4 m3/ton
Quality S2a (average surface water)
Effluent 16.4 m3/ton
Quality scenario 1 S2a (well treated)
Quality scenario 2 S3a (partially treated)
Scenario 3 No effluent (all water consumed)
37

38. HUMAN HEALTH IMPACTS FROM PRODUCTION OF BOARD IN
HANOI FOR DIFFERENT SCENARIOS
7.E-04
HHImpacts, board production, Hanoi (DALY/ton)
Remaining substances
6.E-04 Arsenic, to air
5.E-04 Arsenic, to water
4.E-04 Dioxins
Ammonia
3.E-04
Hydrocarbons, aromatic
2.E-04
Zinc, to soil
1.E-04
Sulfur dioxide
0.E+00 Particulates, < 2.5 um
Well-treated Average All water Nitrogen oxides
effluent effluent consumed
(S2a) (S3a) (No effluent) WATER 38

39. NORMALIZED HUMAN HEALTH (HH) IMPACTS AND COMPENSATION
VOLUME (COMP) FOR THE PRODUCTION OF 1 TON OF BOARD
100%
90%
80%
water
70%
process
60%
50%
40%
30%
20%
10%
0%
HH Cape Comp HH Comp HH Comp
Town Cape Town Cologne Cologne Hanoi Hanoi
39

40. DISCUSSION
FUTURE WORK
Only methodology to
Use adaptation capacity
Consider quality of water withdrawn and released
Evaluate impacts based on functionalities instead of
Evaluate scarcity based on consumed water
water classes and compare results
Evaluate scarcity for different water qualities
Include and differentiate instream/offstream users
Evaluate fraction of water used by transport and
Includes all water types: ground, surface, sea, rain, wastewater, etc...
recreation
Limits Identify default compensation scenarios and their
Unreliable regional quality data
impacts
Cases of over/under estimation of impacts due to water categories
Temporal adaptation of CF the resource depletion aspect of water
Modeling of
User’s distribution for transport and recreation not evaluated
use
Impacts from compensation are not evaluated
Does not include impacts on future generations or ecosystems
40