Assessing GHG Emissions in Water Production: Patel College Research

This capstone report examines the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions associated with water production, focusing on Tampa Bay Water (TBW) operations. The study assesses TBW's methodology for estimating GHG emissions, considering factors like energy consumption for water pumping and emission factors from various energy sources. It highlights the importance of accurate GHG emission estimation in water utilities, referencing the link between energy and water usage (the energy-water nexus) and the environmental impacts of GHGs. The report also discusses TBW's internal greenhouse gas calculator and its reliance on billing data and EPA emission factors. The research emphasizes the need for sustainable energy management systems and accurate GHG emission estimation in water production to mitigate environmental impacts.

Patel College of Global Sustainability
Capstone Research Report
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Associated with Water
Production
Saif Alkaabi, U56485468
July 25,2018

Gas Emission Associated with Water Production ALKAABI 1
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Associated with Water
Production
Master of Arts Project Report
By
Saif Alkaabi
Supervisors
Dr. Kebreab Ghebremichael
Mr. Dave Bracciano
University of South Florida
Patel College of Global Sustainability
July 25,2018

Gas Emission Associated with Water Production ALKAABI 2
Abstract
Greenhouse gases (GHG) are detrimental both from the perspective of human
health and environmental health. Greenhouse gases affect the distribution of heat
throughout the atmosphere and these gases include the nitrous oxide, methane and
carbon dioxide and the fluorinated gases like the sulphur hexafluoride, perfluorocarbons
and hydrofluorocarbons. These compounds occur naturally but the different
anthropogenic activities of humans have led to the increase in the concentration of
these gases. The most common method of increasing the greenhouse gases in the
atmosphere is through the combustion of the fossil fuel for the purpose of generation of
heat and electricity. The purpose of the study is to assess the methodology used by the
Tamp Bay Water (TBW) for estimating GHG emissions of their TBW operations in the
production and supply of water to their customers. TBW is a regional drinking water
utility company that serves the customers of Tampa Bay located in Florida. Supplies
drinking water to areas like the Tampa, New Port Richey, St. Petersburg, Pinellas,
Pasco, Hillsborough. The quantity of water supplied is 2.5 million people and this takes
place via the government. TBW has developed an internal greenhouse gas calculator
that is based on the billing data for the purpose of water production which specifically
includes pumping of water. Energy data form the Energy Consumption Manager is
disaggregated by the sources like the Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative, Duke
and TECO. From the data, the kWh/MGal pumped at the various facilities. TBW also
utilizes the emission factors sourced from EPA to estimate the greenhouse gas
emissions data in tons or pounds/kWh for the different sources of energy. A hybrid
framework can be applied for accounting the GHG emissions. The indirect emission can
be calculated through a top down approach and the direct emissions can be calculated
though a bottom up approach. The bottom up estimation and evaluation will be
beneficial for calculating the emission factors.

Gas Emission Associated with Water Production ALKAABI 3
Acknowledgement
I would first like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my Dr. Kebreab
Ghebremichael for all of the help and guidance he has tent to work, I would also like to
thank Mr. Dave Bracciano for offering advice and instruaction during the research time. I
would like to thank Ms. Trista Brophy for helping to gather data from Tampa Bay Water
utility. I would like to thank professor Quiong Zhang for her support and advice for my
project.
Special thanks go to my friend Jihao who helped me a lot in finishing this project within
the limited time.
lastly, I would like to thank my father for all the support and understanding when times
were busy.

Gas Emission Associated with Water Production ALKAABI 4
Table of Contents
Abstract...........................................................................................................................................2
Acknowledgement.........................................................................................................................3
1. Introduction................................................................................................................................6
1.1 Background.........................................................................................................................8
1.2 Problem Statement............................................................................................................9
1.3 Objectives............................................................................................................................9
1.4 Research Questions........................................................................................................10
1.5 Scope of the Report.........................................................................................................10
2. Literature Review....................................................................................................................11
i. Greenhouse Gas Inventory Guidance for Direct Emissions from Stationary
Combustion Sources:.............................................................................................................16
ii. Greenhouse Gas Inventory Guidance for Direct Emissions from Mobile Combustion
Sources:....................................................................................................................................16
iii. Greenhouse Gas Inventory Guidance for Indirect Emissions from Purchased
Electricity..................................................................................................................................17
iv. Greenhouse Gas Inventory Guidance- Direct Fugitive Emissions from
Refrigeration, Air Conditioning, Fire Suppression, and Industrial Gases:.....................17
3. Methodology/materials/methods..........................................................................................20
3.1 Methodology:.....................................................................................................................20
3.2 Method:..............................................................................................................................20
4. Research results/findings......................................................................................................22
4.1. Data interpretation of Primary Qualitative data collection.........................................22
5. Discussion and interpretation of results..............................................................................26

Gas Emission Associated with Water Production ALKAABI 5
Recommendation...........................................................................................................................28
Conclusion.....................................................................................................................................29
References......................................................................................................................................30
Appendix........................................................................................................................................36

Gas Emission Associated with Water Production ALKAABI 6
1. Introduction
Greenhouse gases are the ones that trap heat in the atmosphere. The
greenhouse gases allow the sun's heat to enter into the atmosphere and unhindered as
a shortwave energy. This heats up the surface of the earth and the same energy is re-
radiated in the form of longwave energy into the atmosphere which is absorbed by
these greenhouse gases. This results in trapping of the heat energy in the lower
atmosphere. There are many greenhouse gases that occur in the atmosphere, such as
nitrous oxide, water vapour, methane and carbon dioxide, where there are other gases
that are synthetic. There are other gases that are man-made and like the
chlorofluorocarbons, Sulphur hexafluoride, perfluorocarbons, and hydrofluorocarbons.
The water utility practices are closely associated with the activities of greenhouse gas
emissions (Morris,Paltsev& Reilly, 2012). Water management is required to meet the
increasing demand for the change in climate and in several of the cases results in the
additional energy usage. There are several regulations in the USA regarding the
monitoring of the greenhouse gas emissions but there exists a gap between the energy
and the water management. Energy and water are closely linked and this is called as
the energy-water nexus, the term captures the aspects of the energy and water
interaction. Water is a very important component of energy production and this includes
the fossil fuel extraction like biofuels, hydroelectric power and cooling. At the same time,
the energy produced is used for treating, supplying and using water. The rise in the
levels of the greenhouse gases and the environmental impacts is associated with the
various changes in the environment like the severe heat waves, acid rain, drought and
intense weather conditions (Samimi&Zarinabadi, 2012).
Greenhouse gases have got severe environmental impacts on the
environment due to climate change associated with it. Rise in temperature due to
increase in the GHGs in the atmosphere often results to various changes on the
planet earth. It can result to drought leading to lack of water, intense rain which is
acidic as well as severe heat waves. Additionally, there can be melting of the ice and
glacier leading to the rice of ocean levels causing tsunami. All this have got negative
impacts to both human society as well as environment. GHGs gases do not only

Gas Emission Associated with Water Production ALKAABI 7
have harmful effects on human health but also on the climate (Williams et al, 2014).
Due to the high trap-ability of the GHGs gases, there continuous production
increases warming of the earth leads to increase in the emergence of diseases,
deaths and extinction of various organism.
Additionally, increases GHGs gases leads to the reduction of the fresh water for
consumption depletion of ozone layer. According to WHO, consumption of water that
is contaminated by the GHGs can leads to irritation of the respiratory system
causing respiratory problems, reduction functioning of the lungs and aggregate
asthma as well as impairment of the body system of defence. Additionally,
environment impacts include reduction in the growth rate, increases susceptibility of
plant to diseases, injury and premature mortality of plant tissues as well as reduce
survivability of the plants. Therefore, there is need to use safe and clean energy for
use in transportation, electricity and production of water (Searchinger et al, 2012).
The emissions from the water utilities when evaluated showed that various activities
have led to the emission of nitrous oxide, methane and carbon dioxide. The
greenhouse gases are produced from the mobile combustion and onsite combustion
and the emission are caused due to the usage of chilled and hot water by the water
utility, production of steam and electricity (Anthony & Tanju Karanfil, 2013).
The purpose of the study is to is to estimate the Greenhouse gas emissions of
the Tampa Bay Water operations in the production and supply of water to their
customers. The Study will focus on addressing the research questions posed by TBW to
assess their methods of estimating GHG emissions form their operations. The
significance of the project is to ensure that methodology used by the TBW is accurate.
The scope of the study is mainly emphasising on the TBW and its operations that are
based on the environmental protection agency data. It has been found that the TBW
has started maintaining sustainable energy management systems and strives to
accurately estimate the amount of the greenhouse emissions that are associated with
the water production.
Since the year 1990, a steady increase has been noticed in the emission of the
greenhouse gas. In the year 1990, the United States experienced an increase in

Gas Emission Associated with Water Production ALKAABI 8
greenhouse gas by 2 percent (US EPA, 2018). Due to certain changes in the economy,
fuel process and other factors the level of the emission increases in a year. Greenhouse
gases occur naturally and the increase in the concentration of the gases increases due
to the anthropogenic activities (Shailesh, 2013). Freshwater is essential not only for
human survival but also for the drinking and other activities like the farming. It has been
indicated by Huang and Chen (2017) that supply of water is going to reduce in the near
future due to the increased effect of greenhouse gases. The problem of water scarcity
starts by taking into consideration the distribution of water on the earth. Studies have
indicated that the 98 percent of water is salty and thus only 2 percent of water is
available for human consumption and for other uses. It is, however, important to note
that of the 2 percent, 70 percent exists in the form of glaciers and ice. Of the 2 percent,
only 30 percent of water is groundwater and 0.5 percent of water is surface water which
is found in lakes and rivers. Additionally, only 0.5 percent of water is available in the
atmosphere. Researches have shown that the due to the increase in temperature
caused by the increased levels of greenhouse gases cause global warming and this
leads to the melting of polar ice caps. The melting of the polar ice caps has led to an
increase in the sea level and it has effects on the water supply (Heller et al., 2018). A
study conducted by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) indicated the fact that
greenhouse gases like the nitrous oxide and methane are they are highly soluble in
water and this can be detrimental for the human consumption (Huang & Chen, 2017).
The atmospheric lifetime of the greenhouse gases that are produced by the different
industries varies and gases like carbon dioxide have a lifetime ranging from 50 to 200
years. Methane has a lifetime of about 12 years and nitrous oxide has a lifetime of 114
years. The greenhouse gases like methane and nitrous oxide have the heat-trapping
capability and both methane and nitrous oxide are the potent greenhouse gases that
can increase the atmospheric temperature to a great extent. This has a negative impact
on the stratosphere, biosphere, atmosphere and hydrosphere. Thus, there is an urgent
need of clean energy at the affordable rates that can substitute the fossil fuel and
ensure the protection of the environment (Zhou, 2014).

Gas Emission Associated with Water Production ALKAABI 9
1.1 Background
TBW has developed an internal greenhouse gas calculator that is based on the
billing data for the purpose of water production which specifically includes pumping of
water. Energy data frorm the Energy Consumption Manager is disaggregated by the
sources like the Withlacoochee River Electric Cooperative, Duke and TECO. From the
data, the kWh/MGal pumped was calculated at the various facilities. TBW utilized the
emission factors sourced from EPA to estimate the greenhouse gas emissions data in
tons or pounds/kWh for the different sources of energy. In order to estimate the
reduction in the greenhouse emission from the operations, TBW used information from
the water conservation reports that were used in estimating the reduction in pumping
energy. The three main water reduction activities include the reduction in the amount of
the hot water usage in the residential buildings and commercial pre-rinse spray, water
conservation activities or the source substitution (reclaimed water).
1.2 Problem Statement
This proposal will assess the methodology used to estimate the GHG calculation
and the emission factors applied and compare them against practices used elsewhere.
Based on the assessment, the research may develop some recommendations to
improve the methods of GHG estimation. The study is based on evaluating the different
calculation procedures employed by TBW in the reduction of the greenhouse gases due
to water production.
1.3 Objectives
Greenhouse gases are the main reason due to which the global warming has
increased to a large extent and it has led to several undesirable changes in the
atmosphere and has also led to the steady decline of the species. Due to the ill effects
of greenhouse gases, both the human society and the environment are negatively
affected and thus there is a need to develop the mechanisms to control the impacts.
This research will highlight the method employed by the TBW in the greenhouse gas
emission. The study will assess if the standardized or the average could be used if the
data of electric consumption is not available from the local sources. For example, if the
data from the energy sources are not available in time then the average or the

Gas Emission Associated with Water Production ALKAABI 10
standardized data can be used. The main objective of the study is to carefully assess
the greenhouse calculations that are made by the TBW and also to evaluate the
methodology in comparison to the commonly used greenhouse gas calculation. The
evaluation procedures will also include the assumptions made, the emissions factors
that are used in the calculation, the greenhouse gas calculations from other places and
suggest recommendations for the TBW calculator. The study aims to evaluate the
impact of the greenhouse gases on the climate over a period of time; to examine the
greenhouse gases that are associated with the production of water; to develop the
methodologies that can be used in the calculation of the greenhouse gas emission that
is associated with the energy use during the production of water.
1.4 Research Questions
This study will examine the following questions:
 Are the methods for creating kWh used per production point being transformed
correctly?
● Are the methods for determining GHG emissions per electricity used at sites
being calculated correctly?
● What standardized or averaging could be used if electric consumption data isn't
available from local sources (For example the TECO data did not get processed
in time for TBW to use for 2017).
● What can alternative (standard) GHG emissions data be substituted for EPA
emission factors if they are not up to date?
1.5 Scope of the Report
. The prime scope of the research is to analyse the greenhouse gas which is
emitted during the activities like the water production, electricity generation as well as
the transportation sector. The main area where the research will be carried out will be
the TBW. The production of the various gases like the nitrous oxide, methane and
carbon dioxide will be highlighted and the project will take a maximum of three months.

Gas Emission Associated with Water Production ALKAABI 11
The scope of the study is to assess the methodologies employed by TBW in evaluating
and estimating the greenhouse gas emission from its water-related activities. The study,
on the other hand, will not include any discussion on the integration of methods of
greenhouse gas reduction.
The highlights the emissions from steam, electricity, and other sources of energy
that are used by the energy. The scope 3 indicates the various consequences that have
occurred due to the excessive operations from the different sources in an organization.
Here, different resources have been introduced in the case to analyse the different
greenhouse gas sources. Logistics and business travel, third-party distribution and
employee commuting are included within these sources. The study also mentions the
emission from the production of purchased goods, emission from the sold products and
many more sources of greenhouse gas
2. Literature Review
Green House Effect:
Green House Effect implies physical properties of nature that allow trapping
thermal emission within a stipulated zone. The intensity of this natural phenomenon
depends on the layer that traps the thermal emission by blocking the penetration of the
energy high wavelength (Arslan, Cigdemoglu& Moseley, 2012). However, the term
Green House comes from an agricultural technique that allows trapping the thermal
radiation within a glass-covered area situated in an extremely cold atmosphere for
agricultural purpose. The major reason behind this natural phenomenon is the
penetration of thermal energy and its cardinality with the wavelength. When initially the
light wave coming from an external source penetrates the greenhouse cover layer, it
has very high frequency and small wavelength. According to Varma and Linn (2012),
after the absorption, the wave loses the energy and decreases its frequency that
resultantly increases its wavelength (V=f*l, where v is the speed of the wave, f is the
frequency and l is the wavelength). Now the wave with high wavelength becomes
unable to be free by penetrating the greenhouse layer that enables the greenhouse to
trap the thermal energy within it. As a result, the temperature becomes increased. As
per Cook et al., (2013), the atmosphere of earth acts same as this greenhouse effect