Life cycle assessment of wastewater treatment plants

The aim of this study is understand the life cycle assessment methodology and the methods which are used for evaluation of environmental effects, before applying life cycle assessment methodology to wastewater treatment plants.The fact that the importance of environmental protection and its possible effects on the environment is gaining importance has also raised the concern for the better methods which will improve and make the situation more comprehensible. Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) is one of the techniques improved for these purposes. With raising human population and the increasing industrialization, there has been very substantial increase in waste products too. Nowadays with the increasing issue of the importance of the treatment of waste waters, domestic and industrial waste waters produced by production activities has gaining more attention in terms of the ecological balance.In the proceeding sections of this study, an inventory of the input (chemical substances used, electrical energy etc.) and output (emissions releases into the water, earth and the air, amount of sludge etc.) of the plants where waste water is refined was documented, potential environmental effects of the input and the output was assessed, finally the obtained results were interpreted with regard to the objectives of this study. With regard to these studies, attention was drawn to the importance of wastewater treatment plants which are regularly managed. Utilization of resources about treatment systems and its effects on human health and ecology were assessed, finally the most suitable methods of wastewater treatment methods were tried to be explained with best examples.