• Journal of Korean Society of Water and Wastewater
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• v.25 no.6
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• pp.885-892
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• 2011

In this study, LCA(Life Cycle Assessment) on 'Saemangum CSO Project' was carried out to evaluate environmental impact which occurred during the construction and operation periods and the potential environmental impact reduction was analyzed by comparing production and reduction level of pollution loads. LCA was conducted out according to the procedure of ISO14040 which suggested Goal and Scope Definition, Life Cycle Inventory Analysis, Life Cycle Impact Assessment and Interpretation. In the Goal and Scope Definition, the functional unit was 1 m3 of CSO, the system boundary was construction and operation phases, and the operation period was 20 years. For the data collection and inventory analysis, input energies and materials from civil, architecture, mechanical and electric fields are collected from design sheet but the landscape architecture field is excepted. LCIA(Life Cycle Impact Assessment) was performed following the procedure of Eco-Labelling Type III under 6 categories which were resource depletion, eutrophication, global warming, ozone-layer destruction, and photochemical oxide formation. In the result of LCA, 83.4% of environmental impact occurred in the construction phase and 16.6% in the operation phase. Especially 78% of environmental impact occurred in civil works. The Global warming category showed the highest contribution level in the environmental impact categories. For the analysis on potential environmental impact reduction, the reduction and increased of environmental impact which occurred on construction and operation phases were compared. In the case of considering only the operation phase, the result of the comparison showed that 78% of environmental impact is reduced. On the other hand, when considering both the construction and operation phases, 50% of environmental impact is increase. Therefore, this study showed that eco-friendly material and construction method should be used for reduction of environmental impact during life cycle, and it is strongly necessary to develop technology and skills to reduce environmental impact such as renewable energies.