Energy and Carbon Footprints for the Urban Water Cycle in Amman, Jordan

The Energy and Carbon Footprints for Amman Urban Water Cycle (UWC) have been assessed using the Energy performance and Carbon Emission Assessment and Monitoring tool (ECAM 2.2). Amman UWC was divided into two main stages which are water supply and wastewater; the water supply stage included abstraction, treatment and distribution; the wastewater stage included collection, treatment and final disposal. The results showed that the Energy Footprint (EF) and the Carbon Footprint for the water supply stage are significantly higher than those for the wastewater stage. The high EF and CF for the water supply stage is mainly attributed to the high energy needed for abstraction and pumping of the raw untreated water to the water treatment plant or the distribution reservoir. The CF for the wastewater stage is attributed to methane and nitrous oxides emitted during wastewater treatment, in addition to fossil fuel combustion for electricity production. The CF for the water supply stage is solely attributed to the carbon dioxide emitted from fossil fuel combustion for electricity production. Wastewater treatment contribution to the emissions from wastewater stage is highest followed by contribution of pit latrines. Furthermore, methane gas contribution to the wastewater stage is highest among other gases; carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide. Moreover, the energy and carbon footprints for Non-Revenue Water in Amman is considerably high; the CF associated with NRW for Amman water supply is equivalent to the annual CF of 70,000 typical passenger cars. [GRAPHICS] .

Automated summary

The Energy and Carbon Footprints for the urban water cycle in Amman were assessed using the ECAM 2.2 tool. The study found that the energy and carbon footprints were higher in the water supply stage compared to the wastewater stage. This is mainly due to the high energy required for water abstraction and pumping. Methane and nitrous oxide emissions from wastewater treatment were the main contributors to the carbon footprint in the wastewater stage.