The application of water hyacinth for water treatment, coupled
with the production of biogas, manure or animal feed production
from the harvested biomass, could thus offer a sustainable
production system (Malik, 2007). Despite its technical viability, the
application ofwater hyacinth for the phytoremediation of eutrophic
water body and the production of biogas is not promoted in practice.
The main reason is the high cost associated with handling the high
water content of water hyacinth. From a social perspective, one of
the principal barriers is that current energy markets mostly ignore
the social and environmental costs and risks associated with fossil
fuel use (Johansson et al.,1993). Thus, the implementation of biogas
projects coupled with water treatment requires policies that will
realize the external economic costs of fossil fuel sources and the
environmental benefits of bioenergy and water quality improvement
so that biogas from water hyacinth can become competitive
with fossil fuels. However, the available literature on the accounting
of the economic benefits and costs of such a system is still limited.
This paper studied the environmental performance and the total
costs and benefits to society of using water hyacinth for biogas
production. This study collected data from an experimental biogas
plant to develop a lifecycle analysis and a cost benefit analysis for the
control of water hyacinth proliferation in a eutrophic lake in China.
The results from this analysis are compared with a status quo
scenario, in whichwater hyacinth is collected for disposal by landfill