Comparison between EAH Books of Municipal Wastewater and Carbon Dioxide

Abstract

The concept of environment accounting housekeeping (EAH) books of domestic wastewater is derived from those of carbon dioxide (CO2). CO2 emission is estimated based on consumption of electricity, gas, water and so on and can be linked to household expenditures. On the contrary, municipal wastewater discharges are estimated based on the standard or average pollutant discharge amounts per capita and the effects of the "soft interventions" in households on pollutant discharge decrease are subtracted. Therefore, municipal pollutant discharge reductions and household expenditures are not simply related in the current form of the EAH books of municipal wastewater. The economics aspects of municipal wastewater pollutant discharge reduction include household expenditure decrease by decreasing consumptions of foods, drinks and detergents and household expenditure increase with paper or rug to wipe out dishes and cooking apparatus, kitchen fixtures if necessary, and solid waste amounts increase. These kinds of economic aspects are discussed in the presentation. As we presented in the Symposium last year, the Social Experiment Program has been conducted in the Yamato-gawa River Basin, Japan, since 2005 to reduce municipal pollutant discharge and to improve river water quality. For final consumptions, chemical fibers industry will be positive affected and detergents industry will be largely affected judging from basic data summarized from the view points of economics aspects of the “soft interventions” in households.