Application of Simapro7 on Karbala Wastewater Treatment Plant, Iraq

The use of treated wastewater is becoming more popular especially in countries suffering from water shortages despite the fact thatwastewater plants have some environmental implications. For this reason there are various software designed to do the assessment. Among these is SimaPro software package designed to make a valuable contribution. It is a powerful tool for analyzing the environmental impact to products during their whole life cycle. A huge amount of knowledge about the environment is built into the program and database, enabling to analyze a product with a minimum of specialized knowledge. In this study, Simapro was used to analyze and evaluate the impacts that result from Karbala Wastewater treatment plant. The results of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) show that Karbala WWTP has an impact and damage on the environment of the order of 171 point for each 1 cubic meter of wastewater. The most environmental impacts potential were global warming, respiratory inorganics and non-renewable energy. The study also showed that most of the effects were as a result of the phase of construction more than of the operational phase.