A comparison between carbon footprint of water production facilities in the Canary Islands: groundwater resources vs. seawater desalination

The Canary Islands have a water culture tied to the exploitation of their groundwater by means of wells and water galleries.
However, the growth of tourism, the increase in the local population and the development of agriculture have led to the emergence
of new ways of obtaining water, such as the desalination of seawater. The presence of these desalination plants covers
the entire archipelago except for the island of La Palma, and sometimes they function as a complement to water needs, while
in other cases they are the only source of drinking water available. To study the environmental impact of the production of
drinking water through the exploitation of the aquifer and the desalination of seawater, the carbon footprint methodology was
used following the guidelines of the GHG Protocol. The result has shown that seawater installations have the largest carbon
footprint, mainly due to the high electricity consumption in the islands and the electricity mix of the archipelago which, as
it does not rely entirely on renewable energy sources, increases CO2
emissions into the atmosphere due to the production of
drinking water in the islands.