Evaluating sustainable water and wastewater management strategies for Kerman city: A life cycle assessment approach

Salajegheh, Payam; Niksokhan, Mohammad Hossein; Vahidi, Hossein

doi:10.22126/arww.2026.12192.1373

Document Type : Research Paper

Authors

¹ Kish International Campus, University of Tehran, Kish, Iran.

² Department of Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Environment, University of Tehran, Iran.

³ Department of Environment, Institute of Science and High Technology and Environmental Sciences, Graduate University of Advanced Technology, Kerman, Iran.

10.22126/arww.2026.12192.1373

Abstract

This study evaluates four alternative water and wastewater management scenarios for Kerman City using Life cycle assessment based on the ReCiPe 2016 Midpoint (H) method and the World (2010) H normalization and weighting set. The scenarios include: (1) pre-industrial baseline without centralized sewage collection, (2) current practice where treated effluent is predominantly allocated to the steel industry, (3) partial reallocation of wastewater to green urban use, and (4) reduced industrial allocation with seawater substitution. The functional unit is the management of 1 m³ of urban wastewater. Results show that Scenario 1 has the lowest Global Warming Potential (0.36 kg CO₂-eq), followed by Scenario 3 (0.49 kg CO₂-eq), while Scenario 4 shows the highest impact (1.25 kg CO₂-eq) due to desalination energy use. In the water consumption category, Scenario 4 performs best (0.05 m³ water consumed), compared to 0.22 m³ in Scenario 2. Regarding freshwater eutrophication, Scenario 4 also outperforms other options, with an impact score of 0.0018 kg P-eq. Monte Carlo simulation was conducted for uncertainty analysis, indicating a high degree of robustness in the comparative rankings. The findings highlight the trade-offs between energy use, water reuse, and environmental burden, providing insights for sustainable water planning in arid urban regions.

Keywords

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Journal of Applied Research in Water and Wastewater

Evaluating sustainable water and wastewater management strategies for Kerman city: A life cycle assessment approach

References

References

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 21 February 2026

Evaluating sustainable water and wastewater management strategies for Kerman city: A life cycle assessment approach

References

References

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript Available Online from 21 February 2026

Articles in Press, Accepted Manuscript
Available Online from 21 February 2026