70
M. D. Alba-Rodríguez et al.
the work (fuel or electricity), [27], through the labour (which entails consumption of
food and generation of municipal solid waste, and the consumption of construction
materials (energy consumption during its manufacture and implementation) and the
indirect environmental costs are all the elements that cannot be attributed to a specific
work since they perform tasks that serve several elements simultaneously within the
work [25].
The global objectives of sustainable urban development (ODS) [85] are aimed at
climate protection and resource conservation. New indicators need to be processed to
take into account a differentiating criterion of the committed use of natural resources.
Environmental indicators based on LCA are recognized by the scientific community,
and as they are easily understood by the society they are given an added meaning.
The WF is a geographically and temporally explicit indicator of sustainability, which
includes both the direct use of water by a consumer or producer, and the indirect use
of water from a process or product.
2 Methodology
Figure 3 shows an outline of the composition of the HH indicator, generally applied to
the agricultural sector, based on the definitions developed by Hoekstra and Chapagain
[35].
Since this indicator is conditioned by the geographical location and is measured in
a time interval, in order to consider WF at the city level, we must identify and delimit
the geographical area of study, identify each of the processes related to urban water
supply and sanitation that are carried out in that area, and collect the data on water
consumption necessary for each process during a significant period of time, which
Fig. 3 WF components. Based on Mekonnen and Hoekstra (2011)
M. D. Alba-Rodríguez et al.
the work (fuel or electricity), [27], through the labour (which entails consumption of
food and generation of municipal solid waste, and the consumption of construction
materials (energy consumption during its manufacture and implementation) and the
indirect environmental costs are all the elements that cannot be attributed to a specific
work since they perform tasks that serve several elements simultaneously within the
work [25].
The global objectives of sustainable urban development (ODS) [85] are aimed at
climate protection and resource conservation. New indicators need to be processed to
take into account a differentiating criterion of the committed use of natural resources.
Environmental indicators based on LCA are recognized by the scientific community,
and as they are easily understood by the society they are given an added meaning.
The WF is a geographically and temporally explicit indicator of sustainability, which
includes both the direct use of water by a consumer or producer, and the indirect use
of water from a process or product.
2 Methodology
Figure 3 shows an outline of the composition of the HH indicator, generally applied to
the agricultural sector, based on the definitions developed by Hoekstra and Chapagain
[35].
Since this indicator is conditioned by the geographical location and is measured in
a time interval, in order to consider WF at the city level, we must identify and delimit
the geographical area of study, identify each of the processes related to urban water
supply and sanitation that are carried out in that area, and collect the data on water
consumption necessary for each process during a significant period of time, which
Fig. 3 WF components. Based on Mekonnen and Hoekstra (2011)