WiNE-Wastewater in Natural Environment

This report from the IMPEL network details the development of a Water Circularity Index for Products (IC Prod) for the years 2022-2024, building upon previous work on a circularity index for installations. This new index aims to assess and promote sustainable water use in the production of various goods by evaluating factors like freshwater consumption, alternative water sources, water pollutants, and externalities. The IC Prod serves as a tool for decision-making, such as permitting, to encourage environmental compliance, resource efficiency, and a transition towards a more sustainable, circular economy across different product categories like seasonal goods, crops, and industrial products.

This report intends to be an addendum of the report on Water Circularity Index and shows the use of the Water Circularity Index into two new installations which allowed to strengthen the application of this tool.

This report intends to present the outcomes of 2019 and includes the development of an indicator to measure the transition of certain installations to the Circular Economy in terms of water use. Therefore is presented an index named Water Circularity Index as a tool to promote a sustainable water use under the goals of the Water Framework Directive (WFD) and the Industrial emissions Directive (IED).