What You Need to Know about the Water Footprint
The increasing population and expanding industrial activities have led to the excessive use of water resources without considering the future. However, the impact of water use in daily life and industrial activities on the planet must not be overlooked. Therefore, individuals and companies need to understand the concept of “water footprint,” which indicates the amount of water consumed and the group responsible for it.
What is a Water Footprint?
Water footprint, an environmental indicator system, measures the amount of direct and indirect water consumption by individuals or companies. This allows us to assess the impact of businesses and individuals on water resources. Calculating the water footprint seeks to promote more efficient use of water resources and minimize environmental impacts.
Calculating the amount of clean water spent or polluted through water footprint calculations also has an impact on the sustainable use and management of water resources. On the other hand, it also makes it possible to develop strategies for the protection of water resources and to take measures against water scarcity.
What are the Types of Water Footprint?
Depending on the source of the water and its usage, the water footprint is divided into three groups: blue water footprint, green water footprint, and gray water footprint. The specifics of these three types of water footprint are as follows:
Blue Water Footprint
It refers to directly used surface and groundwater. It includes the quantity of water consumed in industrial activities, agricultural irrigation and domestic needs. Indicates the amount of water consumed from lakes, dams, rivers, and underground water resources. The amount of water used for the production processes of factories, irrigation of agricultural products and domestic consumption constitutes the blue water footprint.
Green Water Footprint
Determines how much rainwater stored in the soil is used. This encompasses the total natural rainwater allocated specifically for cultivating agricultural crops. The green water footprint is derived from the amount of rainfall that is absorbed by the soil and does not contribute to surface or groundwater sources. An example of a green water footprint is when agricultural crops depend entirely on rainwater for their development, without the need for irrigation.
Gray Water Footprint
It shows the amount of freshwater used to dilute water pollution that occurs in the production process of various products or services. In other words, it is the amount of water required to eliminate the damage caused by polluted water to the environment. The mixing of dyes, chemicals or various substances used in any factory into water causes water contamination. The amount of clean water required to dilute this pollution and reduce it to levels that will not harm the environment shows the gray water footprint.
How to Calculate Water Footprint?
The data needed to calculate the water footprint must first be collected. The methods used to calculate the blue water footprint, green water footprint, and gray water footprint are different from each other. The standard calculation methods for these three types of water footprint can be listed as follows:
- Calculating the blue water footprint involves dividing the total water use in cubic meters by the total amount of products in kilograms.
- Calculating the green water footprint involves dividing the total rainwater use in cubic meters by the amount of the produce in kilograms.
- Calculating the gray water footprint involves dividing the amount of pollutant load in kilograms by the amount of water used for dilution in cubic meters.
- The sum of the blue water footprint, the green water footprint, and the gray water footprint gives the total water footprint.
To calculate the blue water footprint you need the amount of water used for irrigation, to calculate the green water footprint you need the amount of rainwater used for irrigation, and to calculate the gray water footprint you need the amount of water used to dilute polluted water.
The water footprint can be calculated at the individual, business, country, and product levels. To discover your individual water footprint, you can answer the questions on the official websites of institutions such as the General Directorate of Water Management and receive the results quickly. The water footprints of some commonly used products and foods are as follows:
- Ten for one sheet of A4 paper,
- 15,000 for 1 kg of red meat,
- 2,400 for one hundred grams of chocolate and
- For one cup of coffee, 140 liters of water is used.
How to Reduce Water Footprint?
Efficient use of water resources by both individuals and businesses can help reduce the water footprint. Among the measures that can be taken to reduce the water footprint, it is possible to list the prominent ones as follows:
- To reduce domestic water consumption, water-saving devices should be used in shower heads, toilets, and faucets. Leaking faucets should be repaired and shower times should be shortened.
- Dishwashers and washing machines should be operated at full capacity.
- Water containers should be used instead of hoses for watering gardens or plants.
- Rainwater containers should be used and recycled as much as possible.
- Efficient irrigation methods such as drip irrigation should be used in agricultural activities.
- Agricultural products that need less water should be preferred.
- Using systems to collect and use rainwater reduces the amount of freshwater used in agricultural activities.
- It is possible to purify the water used in industrial facilities and put it back into use.
- It is necessary to switch to production techniques that require less water consumption.
- To minimize water use in the procurement process, products and services should be purchased from sustainable sources.
- To reduce pollution, non-chemical natural cleaning materials that are less harmful to the environment should be used.
- Consuming less meat and preferring local and seasonal products will help you save water.
Organizing campaigns, training programs and implementing policy measures to raise public awareness about water footprint can also contribute significantly to reducing water footprint.
Why is it significant to reduce the water footprint?
The limited number of freshwater resources on Earth is rapidly decreasing due to various factors, especially industrial activities and domestic use. The main reasons to take action as soon as possible to reduce our water footprint as humanity can be listed as follows:
- Rapid human population growth and climate change increase the risk of water scarcity. Reducing the water footprint ensures the sustainability of water resources and makes it possible to leave a more livable world to future generations.
- Reducing the water footprint not only ensures the protection of natural habitats and biodiversity, but also minimizes negative impacts on ecosystems.
- Extracting water from the ground, treating it, or coordinating processes leads to extremely high energy consumption, thus increasing greenhouse gas emissions. In this sense, reducing the water footprint means reducing the carbon footprint.
- Increasing water efficiency in both agriculture and industrial activities helps to reduce production costs.
- Fairer and more equal use of water may be possible, especially in regions where access to water is limited.
- It prevents water resources from being polluted to protect water quality.
If individuals as well as agricultural and industrial activities act consciously about water consumption, it will both improve today’s world and ensure that a more livable planet is left to future generations.
At QuickCarbon, we provide water footprint consultancy services by ISO 14046 Standard. We support organizations to develop sustainable strategies in many areas such as delivering water footprint training to company officials, water footprint assessment, data collection, calculation and reporting of water footprints. If you are looking for a strong solution partner in measurement, which is the first step in reducing your water footprint, you can contact us.