scholarly journals A Systemic View on Circular Economy in the Water Industry: Learnings from a Belgian and Dutch Case

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (6) ◽  
pp. 3313
Author(s):  
Tanaka Mandy Mbavarira ◽  
Christine Grimm
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Water Reuse ◽  
Water System ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Water Industry ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Urban Water System ◽  
Mapping Tool ◽  
True Value

Water is fundamental to our existence and has increasingly been put under pressure by soaring population growth, urbanization, agricultural farming and climate change; all, of which impact the quantity and quality of our water resources. Water utilities (WUs) are challenged to provide clean, safe drinking water when faced with aging, costly infrastructure, a price of water that is not reflective of its true value and the need for infrastructure to remain resilient in a time when threats of floods and droughts are pervasive. In the linear take-use-discharge approach, wastewater is treated only to be returned to waterways and extracted again for treatment before drinking. This can no longer sustain our water resources as it is costly, energy-intensive and environmentally unsound. Circular economy (CE) has been gaining attention in the water industry to tackle this. It follows the 6Rs strategy of reduce, reuse, recycle, reclaim, recover and restore to keep water in circulation for longer and reduce the burden on natural systems. The aim of this study is to determine what the economic and operational system effects of CE are on WUs, informing them of CE’s potential to change their business operations and business model while highlighting its associated challenges. Based on a review of literature, input from expert interviews (Q4 2019) and case studies, an economic view of the urban water system is qualitatively modeled, on top, of which a circular water economy system is designed using a causal loop-diagramming system mapping tool. Digitalization, water reuse and resource recovery were determined to underpin circularity in water, providing operational benefits through efficiencies and diversification of revenue streams. However, issues of investment and a missing enabling legal framework are slowing the rate of uptake. On this basis, CE represents both a challenge and an opportunity for the water industry.

scholarly journals Barriers in Implementation of Wastewater Reuse: Identifying the Way Forward in Closing the Loop

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. C. Morris ◽  
I. Georgiou ◽  
E. Guenther ◽  
S. Caucci
Keyword(s):  
Circular Economy ◽  
Water Reuse ◽  
Wastewater Reuse ◽  
Business Case ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Environmentally Sustainable ◽  
Industrial Setting ◽  
Closing The Loop ◽  
Local Initiatives ◽  
Political Economic

AbstractThe business case for circular economy in water management perspective has gain relevance in the recent times. By 2030, it is estimated that 160% of global total available water will be required to satisfy demand of anthropogenic-related activities and increasing waste-related water will be produced. Gaps on the conceptual framing of water reuse within supply chain management are clearly emerging and the demand for decision support systems helping at assessing effective water consumption in industrial setting is pressing. Despite the numerous local initiatives towards wastewater resource usage, barriers remain for its implementation in practice. Through a systematic review of previous studies in this field, the barriers towards the uptake of wastewater use in agriculture were classified according to the PESTEL (political, economic, social, technological, environmental and legal) framework. Alongside political and legal support, it is identified that for an economically and environmentally sustainable scheme for incentivising the deployment of feasible technologies, there is also a need to gain acceptance for wastewater usage in society in order to enhance the deployment of existing technological solutions. Addressing these factors in tandem can aid the development towards a circular economy for wastewater.

scholarly journals Digitalisation for Water Sustainability: Barriers to Implementing Circular Economy in Smart Water Management

2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (21) ◽  
pp. 11868
Author(s):  
Qinglan Liu ◽  
Longjian Yang ◽  
Miying Yang
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Water Reuse ◽  
Water System ◽  
Water Sector ◽  
Smart Water ◽  
Fuzzy Delphi ◽  
Important Approach ◽  
Decentralized Wastewater Treatment System ◽  
Economic Technology

“Clean water and sanitation” is listed as one of the 17 United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals and implementing circular economy principles in the water sector has been widely regarded as an important approach in achieving this goal. In the era of Industry 4.0, research and practice in the digitalisation of the water sector to create a smart water system have attracted increasing attention. Despite the growing interest, limited research has been devoted to how digital technologies might enhance circularity. In practice, smart water systems often fail to promote circularity in such aspects as water reuse and resources recovery. This paper aims to identify the main barriers to implementing circularity in the smart water management system in Zhejiang, China. The research adopts a mixed research method that includes a literature review to identify the potential barriers from the existing studies, a case study to determine the most critical barriers in practice, and a fuzzy Delphi method to reach a consensus on the crucial barriers. The research identified 22 main barriers to implementing circular economy in smart water management. The barriers are divided into three categories: infrastructure and economic, technology, and institution and governance. The results show that the barriers related to recycling technologies, digital technology know-how, and the lack of CE awareness raise the most concern. Our findings also indicate that experts are interested in the decentralized wastewater treatment system. This research provides significant insights that practitioners, researchers, and policymakers can use in developing and implementing digital-based CE strategies to reduce water scarcity and pollution.

scholarly journals Water reuse and desalination in Spain – challenges and opportunities

2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 153-168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Teresa Navarro
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Reuse ◽  
General Framework ◽  
State Of The Art ◽  
Reclaimed Water ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Seawater Desalination ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Alternative Water ◽  
Shed Light

Abstract This article offers an evaluation of the reuse of reclaimed water and desalination in Spain and aims to provide an overview of the state of the art and Spanish legal framework as far as non-conventional resources are concerned. The fight against the scarcity of water resources in this country, especially in the southeast, has made the production of new alternative water resources a clear priority and has turned the nation into a leader in water reuse and seawater desalination. The assessment presented can be used to help build a more general framework, like the European one, and shed light on other comparative legal experiences.

scholarly journals Integrated management of water resources in urban water system: Water Sensitive Urban Development as a strategic approach

2014 ◽  
Vol 18 (1) ◽  
pp. 107
Author(s):  
Juan Joaquín Suárez López ◽  
Jerónimo Puertas ◽  
Jose Anta ◽  
Alfredo Jácome ◽  
José Manuel Álvarez-Campana
Keyword(s):  
Water Resources ◽  
Urban Development ◽  
Integrated Management ◽  
Water System ◽  
Urban Water ◽  
Urban Water System ◽  
Strategic Approach ◽  
System Water

scholarly journals Urban Living Labs, Circular Economy and Nature-Based Solutions: Ideation and Testing of a New Soil in the City of Turin Using a Multi-stakeholder Perspective

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Grazia Sveva Ascione ◽  
Federico Cuomo ◽  
Nicole Mariotti ◽  
Laura Corazza
Keyword(s):  
Circular Economy ◽  
Stakeholder Management ◽  
Participant Observation ◽  
Green Roofs ◽  
Exploratory Research ◽  
Urban Living ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Living Labs ◽  
Multi Stakeholder ◽  
The City

AbstractIn the attempt to foster circular economy (CE), cities are increasingly adopting urban living labs (ULLs) as sites of co-production aimed at testing alternative solutions based on the reuse of products, reduction of consumption and recycling of materials. Taking this perspective, our study adopts an exploratory research design to discover the pragmatic implications emerging from a case study. The City of Turin joined proGIreg, a European project that entails the regeneration of former industrial districts by means of nature-based solutions (NBS). Ranging from aquaponics to green roofs, seven NBS have been experimented in Turin, which rely on the use of natural systems to tackle social, economic and environmental challenges efficiently and sustainably. Among them, the most promising is related to the production and test of the ‘new soil’, a blend obtained by mixing earth materials coming from construction sites with compost, zeolites and mycorrhizae. The case herein presented is interesting to analyse for the multi-stakeholder management setting used, where public institutions, private companies, research institutions, citizens and associations collaborated in the co-creation and testing phase of the NBS. Consequently, the data collected through participant observation and direct interviews allow researchers to describe multi-stakeholders’ dynamics and how they work. Thus, this paper narrates a micro-contextual experience while providing a critique. Results include an analysis of the unique combination of different stakeholders, which strongly impacted on the management and the effectiveness of the entire project. By consequence, the paper offers both theoretical contributions to the relational branch of stakeholder theory and practical evidence in demonstrating the importance of the relational branch of the theory over a more traditional transactional view.

Leadership for a climate resilient, net-zero health system: Transforming supply chains to the circular economy

2021 ◽  
pp. 084047042110036
Author(s):  
Neil H. Ritchie
Keyword(s):  
Supply Chains ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Multiple Stakeholders ◽  
Natural Systems ◽  
Climate Resilience ◽  
Global Pandemic ◽  
Net Zero ◽  
Climate Action ◽  
Zero Carbon ◽  
Single Use

The global pandemic has taught us that we can focus the attention of the healthcare system on a clear intention when there is a looming threat. Climate action is required from multiple stakeholders particularly private sector suppliers in order to achieve the net-zero carbon emission by 2050 goal established by the Canadian government. Also building climate resilience among healthcare institutions and their supply chains is urgently needed, as they are already affected by a changing climate. By adopting a circular economy framework, the industry can move away from the current damaging take, make waste economic model and adopt a more sustainable model characterized by designing out waste and pollution, keeping products and materials in use, and regenerating natural systems. Health leaders can adopt sharing platforms, product as a service, reduce single use products, encourage extended producer responsibility, and value-based procurement in order to further these aims.

scholarly journals Towards a hierarchy of consumption behaviour in the circular economy

2019 ◽  
Vol 26 (3) ◽  
pp. 394-420 ◽  
Author(s):  
Eléonore Maitre-Ekern ◽  
Carl Dalhammar
Keyword(s):  
European Union ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
Consumption Patterns ◽  
European Union Law ◽  
Consumer Law ◽  
Consumption Behaviour ◽  
Single Use

In their roles as purchasers, users and dischargers of used products, consumers play an important role in the circular economy. In this article, we put forward a ‘hierarchy of consumption behaviour’ to support European Union policymaking. Among the priorities are avoiding the purchase of single-use and unnecessary products, prolonging the lifetime of products through maintenance and engaging in repair activities. Moreover, the hierarchy intends to privilege sharing and leasing to buying and second-hand products to new ones. Finally, consumption in the circular economy also requires allowing products to re-circulate. Changing consumption patterns is difficult insofar as they are largely determined by the paradigm upon which our economy is built and are enabled by the existing legal framework, most notably European Union consumer law. The article contains concrete recommendations to develop European Union law and promote the proposed hierarchy.

scholarly journals Global Water Crisis: Concept of a New Interactive Shower Panel Based on IoT and Cloud Computing for Rational Water Consumption

2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (9) ◽  
pp. 4081
Author(s):  
Adrian Czajkowski ◽  
Leszek Remiorz ◽  
Sebastian Pawlak ◽  
Eryk Remiorz ◽  
Jakub Szyguła ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Water Management ◽  
Water Resources ◽  
Water Consumption ◽  
Circular Economy ◽  
Potable Water ◽  
Raw Material ◽  
Energy Industry ◽  
Energy Transformation ◽  
Flow Measurements ◽  
Essential Resource

The present paper describes the problem and effects of water scarcity and the possibility of rational use of this resource in the idea of a Circular Economy (CE) and sustainable development. Rational water management requires innovation, due to the growing demand for this raw material. It seems that water is widely available, e.g., in Poland, there is no problem with drought. Unfortunately, Polish water resources are shrinking and modern solutions, as well as the construction of new and modernisation of old infrastructure, are some of the few solutions that can protect against a shortage of potable water. Water is also an essential resource for economic development. It is used in every sector of the economy. Limited water resources lead to an inevitable energy transformation because, in its present state, the Polish energy industry consumes huge amounts of water. Due to the above statements, the authors propose a solution in the form of an interactive shower panel that contributes to more rational water management (e.g., in households or hotels) based on the latest technological achievements. This device enables the creation of water consumption statistics based on accurate liquid flow measurements and the transfer of data to the user’s mobile device. This innovation aims to make the user aware of the amount of water used, which in turn can contribute to lower water consumption.

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