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Life cycle assessment and environmental improvement

of residential and drinking water supply systems in
Hanoi, Vietnam
a a a b
Katihanna Homki , Per H. Nielsen , Arumugam Sathasivan & Erik L. J. Bohe
a
School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology ,
Thailand
b
School of Advanced Technologies, Asian Institute of Technology , Thailand
Published online: 02 Jun 2009.

To cite this article: Katihanna Homki , Per H. Nielsen , Arumugam Sathasivan & Erik L. J. Bohe (2003) Life cycle assessment
and environmental improvement of residential and drinking water supply systems in Hanoi, Vietnam, International Journal of
Sustainable Development & World Ecology, 10:1, 27-42, DOI: 10.1080/13504500309469783

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 Int. J. Sustain. Dm. World Ktnl. 10 (2003) 27-42

Life cycle assessment and environmental

improvement of residential and drinking
water supply systems in Hanoi, Vietnam
Katihanna Ilomaki', Per H. Nielsen', Arumugam Sathasivanl and Erik L.J. Bohe2

'School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand

'School of Advanced Technologies, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand

Key words: Life cycle assessment, drinking water supply, water supply, bottled water, environment,
Downloaded by [University of Ulster Library] at 01:40 25 November 2014

eco-design, Vietnam

SUMMARY
In many Asian cities the public water supply is characterised by low pressure, frequent
interruptions and occasional contamination. Hence, private households have to store
water and increase pressure individually to ensure an uninterrupted supply at sufficient
pressure and water for drinking has to be boiled or supplied separately in bottles. In this
study the present water supply system in Hanoi and a number of modification options
were analysed from an environmental point of view through life cycle assessment (LCA)
in order to identify the most sustainable solutions for future water supply. It was found
that the boiling of water for drinking was the largest source of impacts in the present
system. Impacts could be reduced significantly if the public supply network was improved
and private pumping and storage could be avoided and if the water could be used
directly for drinking. It was also found that impacts could be reduced if consumers used
bottled water for drinking instead of boiling tap water. Finally, it was demonstrated that
even if drinking water cannot be supplied directly through the public network, a reliable
public water supply at high pressure is environmentally advantageous. Sensitivityanalyses
revealed that the conclusions of this study are likely to be applicable to other cities with
similar water supply systems.

INTRODUCTION
In many urban settings in Asia the quality of
water supplied from the public water supply
network does not meet drinking water quality
standards. Therefore, water is treated in many
households before drinking, for example by
boiling. In many cases the water pressure in the
public pipeline is also insufficient for the different
uses in the household and the water flow is often
interrupted. Hence, many households are
equipped with water storage tanks, pumps, and
other facilities to ensure uninterrupted water
flow at sufficient pressure. However, drinking
water treatment, private pumping and storage
of water requires pumps, pipes and tanks, as well
as energy. The production, transportation, use
and disposal of these items use resources (e.g.
coal, iron, and oil) and cause emissions (e.g.
COY,NO,, and SO,), which contribute to various
environmental impacts (e.g. global warming and
acidification).

Correspondence: Per H. Nielsen, Hjortholms Alle 13, DK-2400 Copenhagen NV, Denmark. e-mail: pn@lca.dk

27
 Wuter supj9ly systems in Hanoi
Life cycle assessment (LCA) is a method for
evaluating the effects that a product or system
has on the environment over the entire period
of its life, i.e from extraction and processing of
the raw materials, through the manufacturing,
packaging, use, re-use, and maintenance pro-
cesses, to the recycling or disposal as waste at the
end of the cycle (Curran, 1996; Graedel, 1998;
Molina et al., 1998;Weidema, 1997;Wenzel et al.,
1997).
Many LCA studies have been published about
electrochemical products, food products, pack-
aging, furniture, etc. over the last decade (UNEP,
1999; EEA, 1998), but only a few studies have
been published on public water systems (Lundin,
Downloaded by [University of Ulster Library] at 01:40 25 November 2014
2000) and hardly any on water supply. Dennison
et al. (1999) studied infrastructure ofwater mains
but did not include water supply. Van Tilburg et
al. (1997) analysed domestic water supply,
including distribution and treatment of drinking
water, and Wallen (1999) focused on water
treatment and supply. However, the system
boundaries of these studies covered only the
public part of the water supply and not the need
of private water pumping, storage, and treatment,
which are often needed in countries with lower
levels of infrastructure.
The purpose of this study was to analyse how
the water and drinking water supply for
residential houses could be organised in a more
sustainable way so that less natural resources
would be used and less environmental impacts
would be generated during the supply of water.
The product development principles described
by Nielsen and Wenzel (2002) based on LCA of
a reference product and improvements at both
conceptual and detailed level were applied and
the water supply system in Hanoi was used as a
reference system. Based on sensitivity analysis, it
was assessed to what extent the obtained results
and conclusions are applicable to other cities
with similar drinking water supply systems.
METHODOLOGY
The study consisted of three parts: 1) analysis of
resource uses and emissionsrelated to the present
water supply system and two possible alternatives
in Hanoi; 2) assessment of environmental impacts
related to the present and alternative systems;
28 International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology
Ilomuki et al.
and 3) identification of the most sustainable
water supply options in various cases.
The environmental assessment followed
principles presented in Wenzel et al. (1997) that
comply with the general principles of I S 0 14040
(ISO, 1997). Inventory and impact assessment
calculations were performed with the SimaPro
4.0 LCA software package. In inventory analysis,
emissions and resource consumption (exchanges
with the environment) were analysed and quan-
tified for all significant processes in the water
supply systems life cycle. The total exchanges
(Q) of each substance (i) was calculated as:
Where T is the duration of the functional unit
(years);
L is life span of the item (years)
Qi,up
is exchanges of substance i per annum
from use processes (up);
Qi,pis exchanges of substance i from other
processes (p) than use processes.
Inventory data were interpreted in the charac-
terisation step of impact assessment. The
potential contribution to environmental impacts
EP 0) was calculated for various impact categories
3:
-
EP(j) = C W j ) , = C(Qi EF(j)J,
Where EF(j), is the equivalency factor for
environmental impact category j and
substance i.
Equivalency factors were derived from the Eco-
indicator 95 method (Hegungs et al., 1992).
Conclusions were drawn directly from inventory
and characterisation and no further impact
assessment was applied.
Local observations in Hanoi were used in
determination of the general structure of the
water supply system. The data on public water
supply network (structure, installations, elec-
tricity consumption, etc.) were collected from
one of the main public water suppliers records.
The data on household water use, pumping
and boiling practices, as well as information
about the structure of the water supply system
in house and installations used were collected
 Water supply systems in Hanoi Ilomaki et al.

Table 1 Main characteristics of water supply Concepts 1, 2, and 3. All quantities per functional unit

Concept 1 Concept 2 Concqbt 3

CharactPristic.5 Boiling Bottled water Potable public supply

Public water supply low pressure low pressure high pressure

unstable supply unstable supply stable supply
pipeline in poor pipeline in poor pipeline in good
physical condition physical condition physical condition
Water pump, pipe, and storage tanks Yes Yes N0
at house
Water loss in public pipeline 45 % 45 % 25%
Drinking water source Boiled tap water Bottled drinking Potable public
water water supply
Amount of water from public supply (mJ) 8081.1 8015.4 8081.1
Amount of water pumped at house (m3) 8081.1 8015.4
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Amount of boiled water (m3) 65.7

Amount of bottled water (m) 65.7

-, not relevant

by 1) systematic observations in the city; 2) from SCOPE OF STUDY

official statistics related to Hanoi; 3) by personal
The results presented in this paper are based on
interviews (based on questionnaires) of 27house-
a case study carried out in Hanoi, Vietnam and
holds from different parts of Hanoi; and 4) by
the reference water supply system reflects the
inspections and measurements of equipment.
typical situation present in Hanoi. The functional
The data on electricity consumption of the water
unit is a measure of performance of the
pump in each house were based on measure-
functional outputs of the product system and
ments, information provided by manufacturers
provides a reference to which all inputs and
and theoretical calculations (White, 1999). The
outputs of the system are related. The functional
material composition,weight, lifetime, and origin
unit for this study was: to supply drinking water
of items in the system were determined and
for one urban three-storey one-family house (4.1
measured on site, estimated by retailers or
persons) for 30 years.
provided by manufacturers, as appropriate.
Due to lack of local data, as well as confidenti-
ality, data related to most resource extraction,
material production, manufacturing, use, and Water supply concepts
transportation processes were derived from Three concepts for residential and drinking water
databases available in SimaPro 4.0. However, supply were analysed. The three concepts are
data for cast iron pipe production were derived described below and the main characteristics
from literature (USDOE, 1999). Data for manu- are summarised in Table 1.
facturing of galvanized pipes were obtained from
a Vietnamese producer (VNCPC, 2000). Data
for coal briquette production were obtained by
Concept 1: Boiling of water for drinking
interviews and measurements with local pro-
ducers and data for boiling processes with LPG This concept was used as a reference system
were obtained from NRMRL (2000). Further reflecting the present water supply situation and
details can be found in Ilomaki (2001). water-use practices in Hanoi. The quality ofwater
The influence of uncertainty and variation of in the public network does not always meet the
input data was assessed based on sensitivity drinking water quality standards and therefore
analyses. water used for drinking purposes is usually

International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology 29


treated before consumption. According to
interviews done with local households, the most
common treatment method is boiling. In this
concept, it was assumed that all the households
boil their water. Households boil water three
times per day for 8 min each time. Energy sources
for boiling are electricity (50% of households),
liquefied petroleum gas (LPG, 35%), and coal
briquettes burnt in bucket stoves (15%).
The structure of the water supply system is
shown in Figure 1 and the life cycle flow diagram
is shown in Figure 2. A list of applied items is
shown in the parts list in Table 2. The household
installations consist of a pump, masonry storage
tank at ground level, storage tank at the top of the
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house (material: masonry in 30% of houses and
stainless steel in 70% of houses), and galvanized
steel pipes from the pump to upper storage tank.
Masonry tanks are built of local materials on site.
Steel tanks are mostly locally made from steel
imported from Europe and it was assumed, for
simplicity, that all tanks were likewise produced.
Water pumps are mainly imported from South
Korea and China but for simplicity it was assumed
that all pumps were imported from Korea. The
Vietnamese records on recycling of materials are
sparse and information from published sources
could not be used in attempts to predict the
future degree of recycling of the materials in the
water supply system. However, some studies
(Phan, 1999; Nguyen, 2000) have shown that the
degree of recycling in Hanoi is high (around
80%) and, following this and daily observations
-- - - ---- Booster pump
I I -Electricity use: 0.06 kWh/m'
I I
I I
I I Transmission line
I
1 Water
I
I
1 - / /
Figure 1 Structure of the reference water supply system. (All units in the figure were included in the study except
water treatment plant and house)
30 International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology
llomiiki rl al.
in the city, a rough assumption was made: 80% of
metals in storage tank, pumps, and pipes in a
house are recycled.
The public part of the water supply network
included water pipes (ranging from 32 to 600 mm
i.d.) in various materials (ductile iron, PVC
(polyvinyl chloride), or HDPE (high density
polyethylene) ) . The public pipes are mostly laid
underground and it was assumed that they are
not recycled after the end of their useful life
because: 1) they can be difficult to access and 2)
they are usually seriously degraded by corrosion.
The physical water loss in the public water supply
network was assumed to be 45% (HWSP, 1999).
Concept 2: Use of bottled drinking water
This concept is a modification of Concept 1.
Instead of boiling the water for drinking,
households use bottled drinking water. Presently,
few households use bottled water but in the
future this may change. The life cycle flow
diagram of the system is shown in Figure 3 and
basic data of various items are shown in Table 2.
Drinking water can be delivered in different
kinds of bottles but for this study 5-gallon (18.9 1)
PET bottles produced in Vietnam were selected
as they are currently dominant in the very small
market. It was estimated that bottles were refilled
29 times and that 80% of rejected bottles were
recycled (same considerations as above). Water
treatment by ozonation, washing of bottles and
bottling was included in the study.
Storage tank
- Masonry: 2 m?, Steel: 1 m:' ,
Hot dip galvanized steel pipe
-Total length: 12 m
, I
Private pump I
I
- Output: 250 w I
I
I
- Electricty use: 0.42 kWh/m' I I
I
r----:
Ground level I Three-
Distribution line storage tank I storey
- Volume: 2 m ' I
I
house
 Extr2ti;nof
I Production of
bricks
L - - - -
__-- 7

Extraction of - - -) Production of ) ~Buildingof

silicates and cement masonry tank
L - - - -
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Extraction of .
sand
I I I

Extraction of ) Production of
copper copper
Use of
>
1 1 I I - water supply system
Extraction of ) Production of ) Production of )
chromium + stainless steel steel tank Assembly of -Public pumping
household - - electricity
water supply
Extraction of
-
Production of
cast iron
7 Production of
P"mP
) system
- Private pumping
- electricity
nickel - Boiling of drinking water

r Extraction of
iron ore >
Production of
steel
- cod1
-electricity
- LPG'

Extraction of ) Production of > Production of

h C l A A

zinc zinc glavanized pipe

Extraction of Production of
oil LPG'
1 I I I I I
Extraction of ) Production of
coal coal briquettes Production and
, I 1 I assembly ofpublic I
)
Damming water Production of
for hydropower electricity'

gure 2 Life cycle flow diagram of Concept 1, boiling ofwater for drinking. (All processes except those shown in broken line boxes were included in the study
quified petroleum gas
though the electricity production has been shown only in one line, electricity consumption was included in all relevant procesess
aw material extraction, material production, and manufacturing processes for pipes and pumps in public network were included in the study but are not shown
 Water supply systems in Hanoi Ilomaki ~t al.

Table 2 List ofvarious items applied in Concepts 1 , 2 , and 3

Matm'nl Numhw of
production Process Total UllllS p w
Relevant included Manufacturing included uieight Lzjefetz71w' funrtaonnl
in conrep1 Itmi Material in model processvs in model (kg) (years) unzf

Masonry water Bricks Yes Brick making Yes 1800 30 1.0

storage tank Mortar Yes Cement production Yes
Iron supports No Sand extraction Yes
Masonry work No

Stainless steel Stainless steel Yes Production of steel Yes 33 30 1.0

water storage tank Electric welding Yes

Hot dip galvanized Steel Yes Production of steel Yes I1 20 1.5

steel pipe ( 12 m) Rotaiy tube piercing Ye,
Hot dip galvanizing Yes

Private pump Steel, cast Yes Machining steel Yes 15 10 3.0

iron, copper
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Pipes in public Ductile iron, Yes Production of iron Yes 100 40 0.75
pipeline PVC, HDPE Production of PVC resin Yes
(per house) Production of HDPE resin Yes
Centrifugal casting Yes
Extrusion Yes

Pumps in public Cast iron, Yes Production of iron and steel Yes 1060 10 7 x 10.'
network Steel, copper Centrifugal casting Yes

Water tower Steel Yes Rolling steel Yes 500 ton 40 2 . 4 lo4'
~
Concrete No - No -

Water bottle PET Yes Injection forming Yes 0.85 0.2.5" 120
Blow moulding Yes

Fittings, valves, Different No Many No -

sockets materials

'Lifetimes are estimated with help from manufacturers and retailers

YBottleused 30 times

I 1
Use of
water supply system --4 ' Disposal in
landfill
I
I
assrmhly of - Public pumping
household - electricity
water wpply
system' -Private pumping Recycling I
- electricty

Extraction Production Production of

2Washing of

of oil of PET PET bottles bottled water

public water
supply network'

Figure 3 Life cycle flow diagram of Concept 2, use of bottled drinking water. (All processes except those shown in
broken line boxes were included in the study)
'See Figure 2

32 International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology

 Water supply systems in Hanoi Ilvmtiki et al.

Concept 3: Public supply of drinking water Other concepts

This option is a modification of the present Electricity
system at the infrastructure level. The principle
The presentVietnamese electricity mix of 5 1.2%
of this concept is that potable water is supplied
hydropower, 16.1% coal, 16.9% oil, and 15.9%
directly through the public network so that
gas (World Bank, 2001; OECD/IEA, 2000) was
boiling and the use of bottled drinking water
used for all electrical processes taking place in
become redundant. According to the water
Vietnam. For manufacturing processes in Korea
company's records of water quality, the water
(production of public pipes and pumps), the
leaving the water treatment plants in Hanoi is
Korean electricity mix was applied and, for
potable. However, due to the poor condition of
stainless steel production, the European mix
the public network, including many leaks and
was applied (World Bank, 2001).
low pressure, the potable water supplied into
the pipes is occasionally contaminated from
outside. In this concept it was assumed that the
physical condition of the pipeline is improved so Transportation
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that pressure can be increased, the physical loss
is reduced and private pumping and storage can
be avoided. System boundaries and basic data
are shown in Figure 4 and Table 2. To increase
the pressure and ensure uninterrupted water
flow a high-capacity water tower ('7600 mS) was
assumed to be built. The types of pipes currently
applied in Hanoi are sufficient to resist the
increased pressure and it was assumed that the
system is implemented gradually as the current
system is rehabilitated and that only the
engineering and management of the new system
is improved to meet the higher demands. Based
on dialogue with water supply consultants, the
water loss after modification was assumed to be
25%.
All significant transportation processes were
included in the study (see Table 3).
Neglected processes
Manufacturing, transportation, use and disposal
of spare parts, and other materials needed in
maintenance of the system were considered
insignificant due to their relatively low weight
and hence not included in the study.
Impact categories
Four impact categories were included in the
study: acidification, nutrient enrichment, global
warming, and photochemical ozone formation.

Use of
water supply system

- Public pumping
- electricity
t I

4
-- -------

- L--_____- landfill

Recycling
I
Disposal in I
I
1
Allocation
Allocation in the LCA model due to recycling of
materials used in storage tanks, pipes, water
bottles, etc. was avoided by system expansion

-- I 1 - following Weidema (2001).

I
1
1I
production Of Production and
RESULTS AND DISCUSSION
electricity'
assembly of Inventory analysis and impact assessment
public water
of the reference system
The inventory results for the reference system
(Concept 1) are shown in Table 4.The results
Figure 4 Life cycle flow diagram of Concept 3, potable
public supply. (All processes except those shown in show that large amounts of energy carriers are
broken line boxes were included in the study) consumed in the present system and considerable
'See Figure 2 amounts of metals are consumed even though

International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology 33

 Water supply .systems in Hanoi Ilomiiki rl (11.

Table 3 Transportation processes included in the study for Concepts 1, 2 , and 3

From 7b

1,2 Bricks Greater Hanoi Hanoi 30 Truck

1,2 Cement Hai Duong Hanoi 60 Truck
1, 2 Sand Red River Hanoi I0 Truck
1.2 Steel Spain Vietnam 15 000 Ship
Hai Phong Hanoi 100 Train
1, 2 Steel tank Hanoi Hanoi 10 Truck
1,2 Steel pipe Hai Phong Hanoi 100 Truck
1,2 PVC resin for South Korea, Vietnam
house pipe Singapore, 2820 Ship
Thailand
1,2 PVC pipe (house) Hai Phong Hanoi 100 Truck
1, 2 , 3 Pumps South Korea Hai Phong 3000 Ship
Hai Phong Hanoi 100 Truck
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1,2,3 Ductile iron pipe South Korea Hai Phong 3000 Ship
Hai Phong Hanoi 100 Truck
1, 2, 3 PVC pipe (for South Korea Hai Phong SO00 Ship
public pipeline) Hai Phong Hanoi 100 Truck
1,2, 3 HDPE pipe South Korea Hai Phong 3000 Ship
Hai Phong Hanoi 100 Truck
1 Coal dust Quang Ninh Hanoi 160 Truck
1 LPG bottles' Vung Tao Hanoi 1700 Truck
2 PET resin for South Korea Ho Chi Minh 4700 Ship
Water bottles City
2 Water bottle HCMC: Hai Duong 1800 Truck
2 Bottled water Hai Duong Hanoi 60 Truck

'Bottle and gas in the bottle

quite a high recycling rate for the private part of
the supply system was applied. Furthermore, large
amounts of polluting substances are emitted to
water, land, and especially air.
The impact assessment of Concept 1 (see
Figure 5 ) showed that boiling of water for
drinking is the most significant source of all
analysed environmental impacts, representing
40-80% of the total contribution. The large
contribution from boiling water is a result oE 1 )
-
water's high heat capacity (4.2 KJ.("C l)-'); 2)
the applied sources of energy; and 3) inefficient
small-scale boiling practices in private
households. Contributions to photochemical
ozone formation from boiling were especially
high because large amounts ofVOCs are emitted
during incomplete combustion of coal in the
bucket stoves. An assessment on energy use
demonstrated that boiling of water for drinking
consumed about 50% of total energy (results
not shown).
Water pumping in houses and in the public
network was found to contribute equally to all
impact categories. The reason is that electricity
consumption for pumping the water from the
public treatment plant through the city to the
user is of the same order as that for pumping the
water from ground level to roof level in a private
house.
The environmental impacts associated with
producing, transporting and recycling installa-
tions in the water supply system (public and
private) were of the same order as pumping for
all impact categories, except acidification. The
main sources of acidification were production of
cast iron pipes, which are used to a large extent
in the public part of the network, and production
of bricks for.the masonry tanks which are used in
almost all houses as a part of the private system.
Contributions to environmental impacts from
recycling and transportation processes were
generally small: less than 1% and 5%,respectively.

34 International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology

 Water supply systems in Hanoi Ilomiiki rl (11.

Table 4 Selected exchanges with the environment for Concepts I, 2, and 3 per
functional unit

Exchanges Unit Concept 1 Concept 2 Con+ 3

Resources
Chromium 2.3 2.3 1.2
Coal 2.1 1.1 0.35
Copper 0.79 0.79 0.070
Crude oil 1200 520 160
Iron 55 55 44
Lignite 22 16 4.8
Nickel 6.1 6.1 6.1
Water (process and cooling) 2.5 3.0 1.2
Zinc 3.2 3.2 0
Emissions to air
co 10 7.5 5.6
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GO, 8.1 4.8 1.4

Dust 9.9 6.8 1.1
Methane 15 11 3.3
NO, 24 13 3.7
SO, 54 36 17
voc 23 5.0 1.3
Emissions to water
Total nitrogen 150 110 29
Phosphate 130 95 29
Sulphate 11 7.8 2.5
Suspended solids 2.4 1.7 0.50
Wastes
Inorganic general 270 270 17
Mineral waste 2.3 3.9 3.1
Slag 7.2 7.5 5.5
Metal scrap 6.8 6.8 0.014
Zinc 2.0 2.0 0
Total energy 150 82 26

In order to identify means to reduce the
environmental impacts associated with the water
supply, a number of modifications at both
conceptual and detailed level were analysed and
compared with the existing system.
Modifications at the conceptual level
Analyses at the conceptual level covered Concept
1 (reference), Concept 2 (drinking water
supplied in bottles) and Concept 3 (public
network supplies of potable water). The inventory
results are shown in Table 4.A comparison of
environmental exchanges of the three concepts
showed that resources and energy can be saved
and emissions to environment reduced if
Concept 1 is modified into Concept 2 or 3. The
main reasons are that: 1 ) energy consumption
from bottle production, water treatment,
bottling, and transportation in Concept 2 is lower
than energy consumption from water boiling in
Concept 1;2) energy consumption for pumping
drinking water from the public treatment plant
directly to the consumers tap in Concept 3 is
lower than energy consumption for delivering
the water in bottles (Concept 2 ) ; and 3)
significantly less raw materials are used for the
private part of the water supply system when
private pumping and storage is avoided in
Concept 3.
Results of the environmental impact assess-
ment of the three concepts are shown in Table 5

International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology 35

 Wuter supply systems in Hanoi Ilomuki ~t al.

Water pumping Water pumping

Global warming
Boiling of water
for drinking
49%
u Nutrient enrichment

Water pumping
Boiling of water
for drinking
57%

L .,
Water pumping (public.netwqrk)
_. Installations
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Boiling of water
for drinking
83%

Acidification Photochemical ozone formation

Figure 5 Breakdown of contributions to various environmental impact potentials for Concept 1. Installations include
manufacture, transportation and recycling of pipes, pumps (private and public), and storage tanks

Table 5 Environmental impact potentials for Concepts 1 , 2 and 3. (All quantities are per functional unit)
~~

Environmental
impact mtegov Unit Conwpt 1 Concept 2 Concqbt 3
~~

Global warming kg CO, equivalents 8400 4900 1500

Acidification kg SO, equivalents 71 45 19
Nutrient enrichment kg PO, equivalents 3.3 1.8 0.5
Photochemical ozone kg C,H, equivalents 9.4 2.2 0.6
formation

and Figure 6. As expected from the inventory, it
was found that Concept 1 clearly has a larger
contribution to all studied environmental impact
categories than Concepts 2 and 3. Contributions
to the studied environmental impacts would
be reduced by 4 0 4 0 % if Concept 2 was
implemented and 80-90% if Concept 3 was
implemented.
Modifications at the detail level
Analyses at the detailed level covered energy
sources for boiling the water and three different
sources of energy (electricity, LPG and coal)
were assessed in order to identify the most
environmentallyfriendly solution within Concept
1. The assessment included only the boiling
process and the results are shown in Figure 7

36 International Journal of Sustainable Development a n d World Ecology

 Water suppb systems in Hanoi Ilomiiki el al.

I I

Global warming

Acidification

Nutrient
enrichment

Photochemical I
ozone formation
I
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I I I I I
0 20 40 60 80 100 (%)

0 Concept 1 (Boiling)
Concept 2 (Bottled water)
IConcept 3 (Potable public supply)

Figure 6 Relative contributions to environmental impact potentials for the three concepts for residential water
supply

Global warming

Acidification

Nutrient
enrichment

Photochemical
ozone formation
I
I I I I I 1
0 100 200 300 400 500 (%)

0 50% electricity, 35% LPG, 15% coal

100% electricity
lOO%LPG
100% coal

Figure 7 Relative contributions to environmental impact potentials for various energy sources for boiling ofwater for
drinking. (LPG: liquefied petroleum gas)

International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology 37

 Water su@ly systrmJ in Hanoi
in terms of relative environmental impact
potentials. It was observed that boiling water
using LPG contributed less to the studied
environmental impacts whereas using coal
contributed more than the present mix.
Contributions to environmental impacts would
be reduced by 50-70% if all households used
LPG as the energy carrier instead of the present
mix, and contributions would increase by 70-
300% if all households used coal briquettes.
Environmental impacts would remain almost
unchanged (global warming and acidification
potentials) or be reduced by 40-70% (nutrient
enrichment and photochemical ozone formation
potential) if electricity was used as the energy
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source for boiling. However, if this scenario was
implemented more electricity would have to be
supplied to households and analyses of impacts
from the marginal source of electricity instead
of the national mix would be relevant (Weidema
et al., 1999). Due to a lack of proper information,
it has not been possible to determine the
marginal electricitysource for Vietnam. However,
based on World Bank (2001) and EIA (2001)
data, two plausible marginal fuels for electricity
production were analysed, namely coal and
natural gas. It was found in both cases that
contributions to photochemical ozone formation
could be decreased significantly (around 70%).
If coal was the marginal energy source for
electricity production, all other impacts would
increase slightly (about 10-20%) and if natural
gas was the marginal enercgy source all impacts
except global warming would decrease slightly
(10-15%). Contributions to global warming
potential would increase by around 10%. Thus,
use of electricityfor boiling will be advantageous
in any case if only photochemical ozone
formation is considered, whereas it is more
questionable if the other studied impact
categories are considered as well.
Comparison of modifications at the
conceptual and detailed level
Boiling water with LPG was the most environ-
mentally friendly solution within Concept 1 and
it cannot be excluded that Concept 1 is more
environmentally friendly than Concepts 2 and 3
if this energy carrier was applied instead of the
present mix. Hence a comparison between a
38 International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology
Ilomiilli et al.
modified Concept 1 (boiling with LPG) and
Concepts 2 and 3 was made. In this comparison
only processes directly related to drinking water
were taken into account, namely boiling with
LPG (Concept I ) , water treatment, bottle
washing, bottling, etc. (Concept 2) and pumping
drinking water from public treatment works to
the user (Concept 1 and 3 ) . The drinking water
constitutes 0.8% of the total water supply to
households (see Table 1 ) and this fraction of the
water supply installations was allocated to
drinking water. The results are shown in Figure
8. It was found that Concepts 2 and 3 contribute
significantly less to all impact categories than
Concept 1, even with LPG as the energy source.
Analysis of Concept 3 excluding
drinking water
Implementation of drinking water supply
through Concept 3 may be constrained by
problems with the network, such as illegal
connections, which can lead to contamination
of the water. Hence, a comparison of Concepts 1
and 3 was performed excluding all processes
related to drinking water. The results are shown
in Figure 9. It can be observed that contributions
to the studied environmental impacts would be
reduced by approximately 50-60% if private
pumping and house storage could be avoided.
The reductions in environmental impacts are
primarily due to electricity savings. Furthermore,
significant material savings could be achieved.
Copper is presently used in pump motors in all
private houses and chromium contained in
stainless steel is used for 70% of private water
storage tanks. Hence, copper and chromium
consumption could be reduced significantly by
avoiding private storage and pumping. Iron
consumption could be reduced less than
chromium and copper consumption because
most iron is used in the public pipeline (which
remains unchanged) and some extra iron is
consumed in the water tower replacing private
pumping and storage.
Sensitivity assessment
The present studywas based on a comprehensive,
though simplified, model of water supply in
 Water supply systems in Hanoi Ilomiiki rl nl.

Global warming

Acidification

Nutrient
enrichment u
Photochemical I

ozone formation U
I I I I I I
0 20 40 60 80 100 (%)
Downloaded by [University of Ulster Library] at 01:40 25 November 2014

Boiling with LPG (modified Concept 1)

Use OP bottled drinking water
Potable public water supply

Figure 8 Relative contributions to environmental impact potentials for three concepts (drinking water only)

Global warming

Acidification

Nutrient enrichment
i
Photochemical
Ozone formation

Chromium

Copper

Iron
I
I I I I I
0 20 40 60 80 100 (76)

Reference system
Revised system

Figure 9 Relative contributions to environmental impact potentials and consumption of selected metals for reference
system (private pumping and storage are required) and revised system (private pumping and storage are not required
due to the increased pressure in public network)

International Journal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology 39

 Water suppb systems in Hanoi
Hanoi and avariety of assumptions and estimates
have been made to accomplish the calculations.
In order to evaluate the strength of the results
and analyse to what extent they could be applied
under different conditions a sensitivityassessment
of the significant parameters, which are subject
to most uncertainty and/or variation has been
performed.
Electricity mix
Large amounts of electricity are consumed for
water supply and the applied electricity mix is
important for the results of this study. In order
to analyse whether the conclusionswould change
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if the electricity mix changed (either in Vietnam
in the future or if the results were applied in
other regional cities), parallel assessments were
performed for other possible electricity mixes.
When the electricity mix applied in the model
was varied between: 1) 90% hydropower and
10% thermo power (coal) and 2) 100% thermo
power (coal) and no hydropower, the absolute
emissions and impacts changed significantly, but
the conclusions regarding concepts 1, 2 and 3
remained unchanged and were still very clear.
The comparison of coal and LPG as energy
sources for boiling is independent of electricity
and is not sensitive to changes in electricity mix.
The comparison of bottled water and boiled
water with LPG as energy source is sensitive to
the electricity mix because supplying water in
bottles requires electricity for production and
washing of bottles, and bottling of the water. It
was found that if electricity is produced with a
high percentage of thermo power, conclusions
may switch and boiling of water with LPG may
cause less impacts to the environment than
supplying the water in bottles. Supplying drinking
water directly through the public network will
cause less impact than boiling water with LPG,
independent of the electricity mix.
Application of literature data
For raw material extraction, production, trans-
portation and electricity production processes
most of the resource use and emission data were
derived from databases available in SimaPro 4.0,
which are mainly based on West European
sources. Since the technology level in Western
40 InternationalJournal of Sustainable Development and World Ecology
Ilomiki et al.
Europe is generally higher than in Vietnam and
emission control is generally more restrictive,
the same processes in Vietnam would probably
cause more emissions per produced unit and
the emissions and resource consumption
recorded in this study are probably on the low
side. Since Concept 3 depends on fewer materials
and processes than Concepts 1 and 2, the
conclusions regarding this concepts advantages
would probably be stronger if local data had
been applied. It is difficult to assess how the
application of local data could influence the
results, and it is therefore stressed that only
large differences in environmental impacts (>
25%) have been interpreted asvalid in this study.
Size of public water supply network
The determination of pipe length in the public
network was based on information about the
existing water supply network in the operation
area of one local water company. Changes in the
structure of the pipeline and the number of
houses connected to the system might lead to
changes in the results of this study. However, the
contribution from the public network is not very
important for the final results and major changes
in the pipeline network would be required before
the final conclusion of this assessment would be
changed.
Recycling scenario
As usual in LCA, it is difficult to establish a
reasonable recycling scenario because the
processes will occur in the future. However, in
this study it was observed that impacts associated
with the recycling processes were only minor
and hence the degree of recycling does not
influence conclusions regarding environmental
impacts and consumption of energy carriers.
Nevertheless, recycling has a direct influence on
resource consumption for materials and
therefore, for instance, absolute metal con-
sumption recorded in this study is uncertain.
CONCLUSION
The main source of environmental impacts in
the present water supply system in Hanoi is
 Water supplj systems in Hanoi
boiling of water for drinking. The second largest
source is electricity used for pumping of water
from the public supplier to the consumer during
the use phase. Contributions from public
pumping and private pumping are similar.
Production processes related to water supply
installations are the third largest source of
environmental impacts, but are also the main
source of material consumption. Contributions
to environmental impacts from transportation
and material recycling processes are relatively
small.
In order to identify more sustainable solutions
for water supply in Hanoi a number of modifi-
cations to the supply system at the conceptual
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and at the detailed levels were analysed and
assessed. Assessment of two modifications at the
conceptual level showed that resource con-
sumption and environmental impacts could be
reduced significantly if: 1) drinking water was
supplied in bottles as a replacement to boiling,
or 2) the public water supply network was
improved and drinking water was supplied
directly through the public network, avoiding
private pumping, storage and boiling.
Assessments at the detailed level showed that
significant savings could also be achieved if
households in Hanoi used LPG as energy source
for boiling instead of the present mix of energy
sources (coal briquettes, LPG and electricity).
Further studies are required before conclusions
related to electricity as energy source for boiling
can be made.
Environmental comparison of the studied
modification options showed that the best
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