Publications – Carbon Neutral Urban Water

Position paper: Monitoring and mitigation of process gas emission in wastewater treatment plants

This paper highlight the following facts and core element for improvement regarding monitoring and mitigation of process gas emissions in wastewater treatment plants:

• Emissions of process gases, i.e., nitrous oxide (N2O) and methane (CH4), from wastewater and sludge treatment make up 60-70% of the GHG from wastewater treatment plants.
• N2O emissions represent a global warming potential 273 times higher than that of carbon dioxide.
• Technologies to monitor and mitigate N2O emissions have been developed in last 2 decades and successful case studies of their application are available in this paper.
• The revision of the Urban Wastewater Treatment Directive presents an important opportunity to address the monitoring and mitigation of N2O emissions, paving the way for the wastewater treatment sector’s
contribution to EU’s Climate Law targets.

ECAM Methodology Guide

This document provides a detailed explanation on the theoretical background of the third version of the web-based “Energy performance and Carbon Emissions Assessment and Monitoring” (ECAM v3.0) tool. The main assumptions and the key considerations that form the basis of the tool are explained. An overview of variables, performance indicators and related equations, as well as benchmark values and references are given. Additionally, the manual helps users with evaluating different scenarios for specific system configurations.

ECAM User Manual

The User Manual was developed as an instrument to support the use of the ECAM tool (Energy Performance and Carbon Emissions Assessment and Monitoring). It can help users to estimate greenhouse gases (GHG) emissions from the Urban Water Sector activities. This document is intended to be practical, accessible and “straight to the point”. To understand the conceptual framework of the ECAM tool, the user can consult the additional document “Methodology Guide”.

Masterclass 1: Quantifying, modelling and mitigating process emissions

This masterclass will bring participants up to speed with process emissions of nitrous oxide and methane from wastewater treatment through presenting the key findings from a newly (April 2022) launched IWA publication and sharing the experience of progressive utilities around the world. Four masterclasses will be organised in 2022 by the Climate Smart Utilities Initiative. This first masterclass will set the scene and provide an overview of what process emissions are, an introduction to the IWA Specialist Groups working in the area and a summary of what the series will cover.

COMPARISON OF SUITABLE LEAK DETECTION METHODS

This publication is intended to support water utilities, especially in EMDEs, (Emerging Markets and Developing Economies), to broaden their knowledge of the currently available methods, including their advantages, disadvantages, application possibilities and limitations to be
able to make an initial pre-evaluation of the methods under the respective local conditions.

2nd Edition Smart Water Management

Digitalization is transforming the way water and wastewater utilities plan and manage their infrastructure and interact with their customers and their staff. Globally, digital technologies have been playing a role in resource efficient water management for some time, including in the management of water losses and the energy efficiency of utilities. Digital applications have been developed for customer engagement, leak detection, pressure management, energy efficient pumping, energy management and wastewater treatment.

This document addresses these differences, from tariff structures to levels of water losses, and identifies opportunities for digitalization in resource-efficient water management that can work especially well in EMDEs. It also discusses some digital applications that are already in widespread use in high-income countries, but due to economic, technical or other factors are not currently suited to the needs of EMDEs.

Groundwater-based water supply

Groundwater as a reliable source of high-quality drinking water. In a time where climate change, regional and local water scarcity and droughts are frequent and increasing, groundwater can be a sustainable source of high-quality drinking water. Whether relying on a groundwater supply entirely, or as a supplement to surface water, the potential is considerable.

Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change. Ghana

The report is organized as follows. The next section puts the study into context by briefly discussing the global EACC study and the EACC methodology, which was applied in this study at a more disaggregated level. The section highlights the differential impacts of climate change among different regions of the world, including Africa. Chapter three presents an overview of the methodology used, including the key assumptions. An effort has been made to present this information in nontechnical language where possible. The more technical aspects of the study can be found in the annexes. The sector results are contained in chapter four. The chapter begins with an overview of the Ghanaian economy, followed by the climate projections for Ghana and the overall economic impacts. Next, the results for each sector are presented in three parts: climate change impacts, the adaptation options, and the adaptation costs. The final chapter concludes with a summary and policy implications.

Climate Change and Agriculture in Latin America, 2020-2050 : Projected Impacts and Response to Adaptation Strategies

The impacts of climate change on agriculture are projected to be significant in coming decades, so response strategies, and their likely costs, should be evaluated now. That is why this study produced an open-access, crop-climate-economic impact modeling platform for Latin America and the Caribbean, that can be extended to other regions, then modified and improved by users as new crop, climate, and economic datasets become available. The new platform projects the likely impacts of agroclimatic factors on crop productivity, on the basis of climate projections from two general circulation models, and couples it with an economic model to derive and evaluate a range of climate-change scenarios and likely agricultural productivity and economic impacts over the next several decades.

Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change. Ethiopia

The report is part of a broader study, the Economics of Adaptation to Climate Change (EACC), which has two objectives: (a) to develop a global estimate of adaptation costs for informing international climate negotiations; and (b) to help decision makers in developing countries assess the risks posed by climate change and design national strategies for adapting to it. This paper is one of a series of country-level studies, where national data were disaggregated to more local and sector levels, helping to understand adaptation from a bottom-up perspective. Ethiopia is heavily dependent on rainfed agriculture. Its geographical location and topography in combination with low adaptive capacity entail a high vulnerability to the impacts of climate change. Historically the country has been prone to extreme weather variability. Rainfall is highly erratic, most rain falls with high intensity, and there is a high degree of variability in both time and space. Since the early 1980s, the country has suffered seven major droughts five of which have led to famines in addition to dozens of local droughts. Major floods also occurred in different parts of the country in 1988, 1993, 1994, 1995, 1996, and 2006. Climate projections obtained from the GCMs referred to above suggest an increase in rainfall variability with a rising frequency of both severe flooding and droughts due to global warming.

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