WATER FOOTPRINT

Introduction

We believe that sustainable use of fresh water is critical foundation for

healthy lives & healthy planet. As our consumer society grows and pressure on
our limited supply mounts, the race is on to use and rethink and ultimately,
transform the ways in which we use and manage water.

1. The Concept of Water Footprint

The idea of considering water use along supply chains has gained interest
after the introduction of the ‘water footprint’ concept by Hoekstra in 2002. The
water footprint is an environmental indicator that measures the volume of fresh
water used throughout the entire production chain of goods or services
consumed by the individual, community, a nation or humanity as a whole. It is
measured in liters (L) or cubic meters m3per tonne of production, per hectare of
cropland, per unit of currency and in other functional units.

Water footprint look into the direct water footprint, which is the water used
directly by the individuals and the indirect water footprint, which is the
summation of the water footprints of all the products consumed . It is a multi-
dimensional indicator, showing water consumption volumes by source and
polluted volumes by type of pollution.

All components of a total water footprint are specified geographically and

temporally. According to the Water Footprint Network, these components are
Green water footprint, blue water footprint and grey water footprint.The green
water footprint refers to the from precipitation (rain or snow) that is stored in
the root zone of the soil as soil moisture and evaporated, transpired or
incorporated by plants. On the other hand, the blue water footprint is the
consumption of blue water resources that has been sourced from surface or
groundwater resources. In this context, consumption is defined as the loss of

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water from the available ground-surface water body in a catchment area, which
occurs when water evaporates, returns to another catchment area or the sea,
or is incorporated into a product. Lastly, the grey water footprint pertains to
pollution and is defined as the volume of freshwater that is required to
assimilate the load of pollutants based on existing ambient water quality
standards.

1.2 Water Footprint Calculation

Water use is measured in terms of water volumes consumed and/or polluted

per unit of time. A water footprint can be calculated for a particular product, for
any group of consumers such as individuals, family, city province, nation or
even global, and/or for producers such as private enterprises or economic
sector, etc. Following the relationship between the various types of water
footprints, we can calculate the following:

a) The water footprint of a product = the sum of the water footprints of the
process steps taken to produce the product (considering the whole
production and supply chain).
b) The water footprint of a consumer = the sum of the water footprints of
all products consumed by the consumer.
c) The water footprint of a community = the sum of the water footprints of
its members.
d) The water footprint of national consumption = the sum of the water
footprints of its inhabitants.
e) The water footprint of a business = the sum of the water footprints of
the final products that the business produces.
f) The water footprint within a geographically delineated area (e.g. a
municipality, province, state, nation, catchment or river basin) = the
sum of the process water footprints of all processes taking place in the
area
g) For blue water footprint,
WF proc ,blue =Blue Water Evaporation+ Blue Water Incorporation+ Lost Return Flow .
h) For green water footprint,
WF proc ,green =Green Water Evaporation+Green Water Incorporation .

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 WF
i) For grey water footprint, proc ,grey =¿
Pollutant Load( L)
maximum acceptable concentration(C max )−natural concentration(C nat )
¿

2. What the Water Footprint Would Tell Us

The water footprint can raises awareness on how much water is being
consumed by a particular country, or even the globe as a whole, in a specific
river basin or from an aquifer. It allows companies, governments and even
individuals to acquire a broad range of knowledge, for example, the water
dependence in a company’s operations or supply chain, the rules and
regulations protecting our water resources, and/or the security of our food
and/or energy supplies.

Understanding water footprint is highly relevant in order to recalibrate our

minds and redirect our ways to take part in reducing our water footprints. For
instance, we take shorter showers, water the plants in the evening shift to
reduce water loss, consider fruits and vegetables in meals rather than meat.

These little bits of goods will eventually allow us to manage water for both
people and nature, for sustainable, fair and efficient use of the world’s
freshwater limited resource.

3. Water Footprint Assessment

Water Footprint Assessment is a four-phase process that quantifies and
maps green, blue and grey water footprints, assesses the sustainability,
efficiency and equitability of water use and identifies which strategic actions
should be prioritized in order to make a footprint sustainable. It is versatile and
can inform a broad range of strategic actions and policies from environmental,
social and economic perspectives.

3.1 The Four Phases of Water Footprint Assessment

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1. Goals and Scope

A Water Footprint Assessment begins with setting the goals and scope of
the water footprint study. Water Footprint Assessment can be undertaken
for diverse purposes. The goal of the Water Footprint Assessment clarifies
what you will do in the subsequent steps: accounting,sustainability
assessment and response formulation. The scope of the assessment, on the
other hand, defines the spatial and temporal scale of the study, for example
whether the focus will be global or within a single catchment, whether it will
span one year or multiple years, whether it will include some or all of the
value chain, address one product or a facility or an entire company.
Together, the goal and scope indicate which data will be used, how each
subsequent step of the assessment will be approached and the level of
detail required to achieve the desired results.

2. Accounting

Once the goal and scope of the Water Footprint Assessment have been
defined, the data are collected to calculate the footprint of the relevant
processes for the study. These may come from global databases, such
as WaterStat, or collected locally. The calculations for the green, blue and
grey water footprint follow the methodology described in the Water Footprint
Assessment Manual.

3. Sustainability Assessment

Water Footprint Assessment is used to assess whether water use is

environmentally sustainable, resource efficient and equitably allocated. In
the sustainability assessment step, we are assessing whether water use is
balancing the needs of people and nature, if our limited water resources are
being used to the greatest benefit and how fairly we are sharing the waters
we use.

4. Response Formulation

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 Using the information gained in the accounting and sustainability
assessment steps of Water Footprint Assessment, response strategies that
reduce the water footprint and improve its sustainability can be prioritized
for implementation. It can range from investing in better metering to enable
improved water management, to changes in practices or investments in
technology that will reduce the water footprint at any step along the value
chain.

4. Water Footprint of Food

1. Think of a food item you want to find the water footprint of.
2. The Water Footprint Network has designed an online interactive gallery
that shows the water footprint of different foods and products in litres per
kilogram. It can be viewed through the link,
https://waterfootprint.org/en/resources/interactive-tools/product-gallery/.
3. Look for the food item in the interactive gallery. However, the water
footprint that appears in the interactive gallery is in L/kg. Thus, you cannot
directly conclude that the number is the actual water footprint of the food
item. Instead, it must be converted into Liters.
4. Find the mass, in kilograms, of the food item through a weighing scale or
online search.
5. Calculate the actual footprint of the food by multiplying the value of water
footprint (L/kg) that you found in the interactive gallery by the mass of your
Water Footprint ( L/kg)
food item (in kg). Mathematically, ActualWater Footprint = .
Mass( kg)
In doing so, the actual water footprint, measured in L, is already calculated.

REFERENCES

ONLINE:

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Hoekstra A., Chapagain, A., and Mekonnen, M. (2009). The Water Footprint
Concept (Water Footprint Manual, State of the Art 2009, pp. 8). Retrieved
on October 26, 2022 from
https://waterfootprint.org/media/downloads/WaterFootprintManual2009.pdf

Hoekstra A., Chapagain, A., and Mekonnen, M. (2009). Water footprint of a

process step (Water Footprint Manual, State of the Art 2009, pp. 20-22).
Retrieved on October 26, 2022 from https://www.precisielandbouw-
openteelten.nl/pplnl/Portals/0/Documenten/Resultaten/022%20bijlagen
%20Water%20Footprint%20Manual%20-%20State%20of%20the%20Art
%202009.pdf

How - To: CALCULATE THE FOOTPRINT OF ANY FOOD (n.d). Retrieved on

October 26, 2022 from
https://www.easybib.com/guides/citation-guides/apa-format/apa-citation/
#media.

Water Footprint Network (n.d). What is Water Footprint Assessment?

Retrieved on October 26, 2022 from https://waterfootprint.org/en/water-

footprint/water-footprint-assessment/

Water Footprint Network (n.d). What is Water Footprint?. Retrieved on

October 26, 2022 from https://waterfootprint.org/en/water-footprint/water-

footprint-assessment/