Title
Assessing the magnitude of potential environmental impacts related to water and toxicity in the Peruvian hyper-arid coast: A case study for the cultivation of grapes for pisco production
Date Issued
01 December 2017
Access level
metadata only access
Resource Type
journal article
Publisher(s)
Elsevier B.V.
Abstract
The environmental sustainability of the cultivation of grapes for the production of alcoholic beverages has been extensively analyzed in the literature from a Life Cycle Assessment perspective, although certain impact categories have been repeatedly neglected despite their importance, such as toxic emissions or the depletion of freshwater resources. Hence, the current study provides a detailed assessment of water footprint-related impact categories, including toxicity, for the cultivation of grapes for pisco production, an alcoholic beverage produced in coastal Peru in hyper-arid areas that suffer high levels of water scarcity. Characterization factors at a sub-watershed level were used to calculate water consumption impact assessment of grape production using the AWARE method. Site-specific toxic emissions were modelled using the PestLCI model, considering primary climate and soil data. The USEtox assessment method was then used to compute freshwater eco-toxicity with these data. Results demonstrate the high water footprint of irrigating vineyards in coastal Peru, especially considering the inefficient flooding irrigation process. In terms of water consumption, despite the high variability shown between sub-watersheds, the shift to other irrigation technologies must be analyzed with care due to the high competition for water existing in the area. Eutrophication potential showed particularly high values compared to the literature, whereas freshwater eco-toxicity impacts were relatively low due to the high volatilization of pesticides to air. Nevertheless, the lack of an adequate wastewater management system implies that the estimated potential toxic and eutrophying emissions may constitute a further environmental threat to water bodies.
Start page
532
End page
542
Volume
601-602
Language
English
OCDE Knowledge area
Ingeniería ambiental y geológica Oceanografía, Hidrología, Recursos hídricos Horticultura, Viticultura
Scopus EID
2-s2.0-85019971335
PubMed ID
Source
Science of the Total Environment
ISSN of the container
00489697
Sources of information: Directorio de Producción Científica Scopus