Environmental Footprint Assessment of Sewage Treatment Plant: A Life Cycle Perspective

IJEP 46(7): 634-643 : Vol. 46 Issue 7 (July 2026)

Full Text

Meera Pavan Ranpura1,2 and Jayeshkumar S. Patel3*

1. Government Engineering College, Department of Environmental Engineering, Valsad – 396 001, Gujarat, India
2. Gujarat Technological University, Ahmedabad – 382 424, Gujarat, India
3. Vadodara Institute of Engineering, Department of Civil Engineering, Vadodara – 391 510, Gujarat, India

Abstract

This study evaluates the environmental impacts of a sewage treatment facility in Gujarat, India, using the life cycle assessment (LCA) framework in accordance with ISO 14040 and 14044 standards. The treatment system includes primary treatment, secondary treatment with a sequential batch reactor (SBR), tertiary disinfection via chlorination and sludge management. A gate-to-gate system boundary was applied, with 1,000 m³ of treated effluent as the functional unit. Primary operational data for 2023 were collected on-site and supplemented by secondary information from the Ecoinvent database. OpenLCA software with the CML 2001 (August 2016) method was used for impact assessment. The results showed that the secondary and tertiary stages contributed most to environmental burdens, particularly global warming potential (GWP), acidification potential (AP) and ecotoxicity, largely due to high electricity requirements. Sludge treatment was the second-largest energy consumer, while the primary stage contributed most to eutrophication potential (EP). Scenario analysis indicated that replacing grid electricity with renewable sources, especially solar and hydro, could reduce GWP, toxicity and ecotoxicity by over 70%. However, a slight increase in mineral resource depletion was observed due to materials used in photovoltaic systems. Overall, the findings emphasize renewable integration as a viable pathway to improve the environmental sustainability of wastewater treatment plants.

Keywords

Wastewater treatment, Life cycle assessment, Environmental impact, OpenLCA, Sustainability

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