College of

Engineering, Architecture and Technology

Life Cycle Assessment to Inform Design and Target Monitoring of a Treatment Wetland in Oklahoma to Promote Wastewater Reuse

Wetland LCA

The overarching goal of this work is to guide decision-making regarding technologies for wastewater reuse in Oklahoma by applying, assessing, and promoting nature-based solutions to improve water quality. This project will address a critical barrier for passive treatment technologies: a lack of holistic understanding of environmental impacts, potential offsets, and associated tradeoffs of passive treatment technologies, like wetlands, compared to conventional wastewater treatment technologies.

The objectives of this work are to:

• (1) quantify life cycle environmental impacts associated with design alternatives for potential wetland treatment systems at the City of Norman Water Reclamation Facility (NWRF) 
• (2) utilize uncertainty and sensitivity analyses to inform design and target monitoring of treatment wetlands.

The research objectives will be accomplished by conducting life cycle assessment (LCA) on a variety of design alternatives, performing uncertainty and sensitivity analysis, and interpreting results to outline recommendations for future work. This project will identify critical research directions, provide recommendations for treatment wetland design, and guide monitoring efforts for these wetlands.