Assessing the impacts of industrial water use in life cycle assessment

Use of freshwater gives rise to important environmental impacts to consider in the sustainability analysis of an industry or a product. Water use impacts are highly dependent on the local or regional conditions, and apart from the quantity that is extracted and used, the impact of the freshwater use also depends on the local sensitivity to freshwater extraction, and the change in the quality from water intake to discharge of the used water. A methodology is presented catering to these characteristics of the water use issue and demonstrated on an industrial case study from the biotech industry. (C) 2011 CIRP.