What is ISO 20468‑2 about?
ISO 20468‑2 is the second part of the treatment technologies for water reuse systems series.
ISO 20468‑2 provides guidelines for evaluating the performance of treatment systems on the basis of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. It covers the estimate, types of GHG emission and sources, the emission factor for each GHG, and global warming potential, in order to estimate greenhouse gas emissions from a treatment system.
The weight of greenhouse gases to be used in an evaluation is equivalent to emissions during the operation of a treatment system.
ISO 20468‑2 defines a method for calculating carbon dioxide equivalent (CO2eq) emission intensity, in which GHG emissions are divided by the volume of reclaimed water. It also includes a method for evaluating the performance of a treatment system using CO2eq emission intensity.
Who is ISO 20468‑2 for?
ISO 20468‑2 on treatment technologies for water reuse systems is useful for:
- Ozone treatment plants
- Water recycling plant
- Environment agencies
- Water testing and treatment facilities
Why should you use ISO 20468‑2?
Water reuse has been drawing attention to contributing to environmental protection, as well as providing solutions for water scarcity. For example, a water reclamation plant plays the additional role of removing pollutants such as emerging pollutants, pathogens, and toxic elements. Otherwise, water discharged into the environment can increase health risks and/or have negative impacts on ecosystems.
ISO 20468‑2 is to define a methodology more specifically for evaluating the environmental performance of treatment systems among treatment technologies for water reuse systems. It takes a simple and standard approach that can be applied anywhere.
Therefore, ISO 20468‑2 includes how to estimate greenhouse gas emissions using typical activities, such as energy consumption or amount of consumables used in operations. In addition, it also defines CO2eq emission intensity, to help you evaluate the environmental performance of a treatment system expressed as a value of the weight of greenhouse gas emissions divided by the amount of reclaimed water produced. As a result, there is no need to substantially change existing engineering duties. This will alleviate the burden on engineers.