SELECTING SUSTAINABILITY INDICATORS OF URBAN WATER SYSTEMS: CASE STUDY OF AL-HILLA CITY, IRAQ

The present study used environmental criteria to appraise the sustainability of the urban water system (UWS) of Al-Hilla city, Iraq. The study focused on the assessment of the environmental impact and damage to the urban water system. Environmental criteria of sustainability included a number of indicators. These indicators were selected using tools of sustainability analysis, where life cycle assessment (LCA) was used to select and analyze the environmental indicators by applying SimaPro7.1.8. LCA. The results for urban water system in Al-Hilla city showed that water treatment plants (WTPs) and distribution network were most sustainable compared with sewerage network and waste water treatment plants (WWTP). WTPs impact and damage on the environment and distribution network was 4 and 11.5 points respectively, while Al-Hilla WWTP and sewerage network was 41 and 291 points respectively, for delivery of one cubic meter of potable water at the point of consumption or treatment of one cubic meter of wastewater. In addition, the study showed that most of the effects were due to electricity consumption, pumping raw water and clean water, chemical use (such as chlorine), pipes used in water distribution and sewage collection networks, and diesel used for plant operation.