Water footprint - forget carbon, we are in dire need of understanding this one!

Every item we consume or use has a

Water footprint

Because our modern urban lives are the result of a century of infrastructure - bringing us our electricity and heat with a touch of a switch, water on tap for the taking, we have lost touch with the actual footprint of our resource use. Conservation is a great concept - but what is the quantification of every move we make, every change we take? How can we make ethical choices in this regard? Turns out there are some siimple rules - always recycle is one of them!

The hidden water consumption in our daily commodities far outweighs the water we actually take from the tap.

People use lots of water for drinking, cooking and washing, but even more for producing things such as food, paper, cotton clothes, etc. The water footprint of an individual, business or nation is defined as the total volume of freshwater that is used to produce the goods and services consumed by the individual, business or nation.

The water footprint of a nation shows the total volume of water that is used to produce the goods and services consumed by the inhabitants of the nation. Since not all goods consumed in one particular country are produced in that country, the water footprint consists of two parts: use of domestic water resources and use of water outside the borders of the country. The water footprint includes both the water withdrawn from surface and groundwater and the use of soil water (in agricultural production).

Some facts and figures

• The production of one kilogram of beef requires 16 thousand litres of water.
• To produce one cup of coffee we need 140 litres of water.
• The water footprint of China is about 700 cubic meter per year per capita. Only about 7% of the Chinese water footprint falls outside China.
• Japan with a footprint of 1150 cubic meter per year per capita, has about 65% of its total water footprint outside the borders of the country.
• The USA water footprint is 2500 cubic meter per year per capita

Forget carbon: you should be checking your water footprint
By Amol Rajan
Monday, 21 April 2008

Ethical shopping just got harder - but the latest attempt to help
conscientious consumers calculate their impact on the environment
could do more to preserve scarce resources than all its predecessors.

The concept of water footprints - or “virtual water” - will tell
consumers the amount of precious H2O that has been used in the
manufacture of products they buy. As with carbon footprints, a
“virtual water” figure will indicate the extent to which a particular
product has cost the earth. And, as with carbon footprints, the
message is clear: less is better.

A new website run by the University of Twente in the Netherlands,
waterfootprint.org, gives ethically minded consumers a chance to work
out the hidden implications of their shopping habits. Common
including groceries, clothes, stationery and electrical
goods are evaluated according to a water footprint calculator. In
each case, the water footprint covers both the manufacture and
transport of the goods.

The results are striking. An apple weighing 100g has a water
footprint of 70 litres, while a 125ml cup of coffee has a water
footprint twice that size, 140 litres. But the water used in
producing wheat or meat is much greater. A single kilogram of barley
has a water footprint of 1,300 litres, while the industrial
production of a kilogram of beef amasses a water footprint of 15,500
litres.

Poultry, meanwhile, has a smaller water footprint than red meat:
producing a kilogram of chicken meat leaves a comparably much smaller
water footprint of 3,900 litres.

Academics behind the “virtual water” calculations have also created a
worldwide league table for the water footprint of different
countries. The US is the biggest offender, with a water footprint of
close to 2,500 cubic metres per year per capita, while Italy is a
close second. Britain’s water footprint is relatively modest at 1,245
cubic metres per year per capita.

The calculations are fiendishly complicated. But if they prove
popular, calculations of water footprints could do much more to help
minimise the environmental impact of consumption than other, similar
schemes.

Over the past year in particular, controversy has surrounded the idea
of “food miles”, as mounting evidence throws doubt on the idea that
locally produced food is better for the environment. Research
suggests that many products freighted in from halfway across the
globe can leave smaller carbon footprints than carbon intensive
production methods closer to home.

Yet for consumers keen to minimise their water wastage, there remains
a single, simple mantra to live by: always recycle.

A cotton shirt, for example, has a water footprint of 2,700 litres,
tallying up the water evaporated in irrigating and growing the
cotton, as well as the water needed to wash away fertilisers.
Recycling such products, and thereby minimising fresh production,
could make the earth’s water resources go much, much further.

“Our research shows that most people aren’t aware of how much water
they use,” a spokesperson from the Consumer Council for Water said
yesterday.

Though it covers more than two-thirds of the earth’s surface, water
has never been more precious. An influential UN report published in
2003 predicted severe water shortages would affect 4 billion people
by 2050, adding that 40 per cent of the world’s population did not
have access to adequate sanitation facilities.

Counting the cost

*Slice of white bread: 40 litres

*Burger: 2,400 litres

*Kilogram of cheddar: 5,000 litres

*Cotton shirt: 2,700 litres

*Pint of beer: 160 litres

*125ml glass of wine: 120 litres

*Pint of milk: 1,760 litres

–

NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C., section 107, some
material is provided without permission from the copyright owner,
only for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research
under the “fair use” provisions of federal copyright laws. These
materials may not be distributed further, except for “fair use,”
without permission of the copyright owner. For more information go
to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml

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(PS- I borrowed much of this article from the independant and the water footprint website - I feel that this information is so important that we should all pass it on! - annieb)

NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C., section 107, some
material is provided without permission from the copyright owner,
only for purposes of criticism, comment, scholarship and research
under the “fair use” provisions of federal copyright laws. These
materials may not be distributed further, except for “fair use,”
without permission of the copyright owner. For more information go
to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml