Local Freshwater Appropriation Assessment in a wood-energy supply chain in Sardinia

Emanuela Melis (a) & Gabriele Uras (a)
(a) Department of Civil, Environmental Engineering and Architecture, University of Cagliari, Via Marengo, 3, 09123, Cagliari, Italy. E-mail: emymelis@hotmail.com

In the present work, the assessment of the freshwater appropriation for the future energy production by using forest residues will be discussed. Reference has been made to the methodology known as Water Footprint Assessment. The main objectives are related to the analysis of the appropriation of freshwater, by dividing the water volumes related to each component of an hypothetical small supply chain and by separating both the internal and external shares, with respect to the preset boundaries. Those ones are the limits of the Monte Olia public forest, which is located in the Northern side of Sardinia Island (Italy). This assessment of the freshwater appropriation is a valid tool in the wood-energy supply chain design, in the view of a more sustainable local water management.

biomass, forest, freshwater, supply chain, Water Footprint Assessment, water management.