CALAGUA group works on the environmental and economic impact assessment of technologies used for treating wastewater and other wastes. We study and evaluate new alternatives in the wastewater treatment field that allow for economic and environmental impact reduction.

 Life cycle analysis is a key tool to assess the sustainability of these technologies, both from an economic point of view (LCC, Life Cycle Costing) and from an environmental point of view (LCA, Life Cycle Assessment). The main objectives when LCC and LCA are applied to wastewater treatment are:

• To build the most complete and accurate description of the economics of the process, as well as its interactions with the environment.
• To understand environmental and economic consequences from the different constituents of the treatment systems.
• Based on the previous point, to allow the identification of improvement and optimization opportunities.

LCA and LCC tools support the decision taking processes both during the design phase of new treatment systems and also during their operation. In this sense, they are key tools on which to base the development of Decision Support Systems (DSS).