Abstract
Water scarcity presents a pressing challenge for Flanders and urgent action is required to tackle this. Water reuse emerges as a sustainable solution, though there are limited insights in what technology combination and level of (de)centralization of the urban water cycle is required leading to a minimal environmental impact. WateRescue aims to address this challenge by developing a framework to minimize the environmental and economic impacts of the urban water cycle incorporating circular water use. Through comprehensive life cycle assessments (LCA) and costing (LCC), WateRescue will identify the most environmentally and economically efficient combinations of treatment technologies for the appropriate urban form and scale. Critical aspects investigated are finding the best technology for fit-for-purpose water produced based on LCA and LCC, determining the effect of system scale, and elucidating the relationship between urban form and (reclaimed) water demand, thus incorporating urban typologies and density parameters into the analysis. Finally, these key insights will be the basis of multicriteria decision analysis framework designed minimize environmental impacts and costs for a wide range of water reuse scenarios. This framework will generate substantial insights into how water reuse can be sustainably and cost-effectively integrated into the urban water cycle.
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