What is your 'Water Footprint'?

I often think about our Energy Footprint, wondering how much energy is needed to produce the various products we use, but I have to admit that I never thought about our Water Footprint.

There was or is a political group, that originated in England, whose idea it was to calculate the price of everything according to the used energy.

To day, December 16th 2008, was the Launch of the Water Footprint Network Download press release and they talked on CBC about how much water we all use during a year. I think it was a year, or was it a month?
Have no time to read the website www.waterfootprint.org.
Also a T-shirt needs a lot of water for its production... and our shoes ... every item we have. It was a little less than 3 Million liter of water.

Yes we have a lot of water in BC, but don't we have to think globally ... Nothing is guaranteed ... one day we also could be with less water than today.

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 is an indicator of water use that looks at both direct and indirect water use of a consumer or producer. The water footprint of an individual, community or business is defined as the total volume of freshwater that is used to produce the goods and services consumed by the individual or community or produced by the business.
Here are a few examples
1 cup of coffee 140 litres water
1 kg beef 16,000 litres water
1 kg maize 900 litres water
1 l milk 1,000 litres water
1 kg wheat 1,350 litres water
1 kg rice 3,000 litres water

The relation between consumption and water use
"The interest in the water footprint is rooted in the recognition that human impacts on freshwater systems can ultimately be linked to human consumption, and that issues like water shortages and pollution can be better understood and addressed by considering production and supply chains as a whole,” says Professor Arjen Y. Hoekstra, creator of the water footprint concept and scientific director of the Water Footprint Network. "Water problems are often closely tied to the structure of the global economy. Many countries have significantly externalised their water footprint, importing water-intensive goods from elsewhere. This puts pressure on the water resources in the exporting regions, where too often mechanisms for wise water governance and conservation are lacking. Not only governments, but also consumers, businesses and civil society communities can play a role in achieving a better management of water resources."

On the website www.waterfootprint.org you'll find a water footprint calculator.

Anna Christine Doehring
www.energyallaround.com