What Is Water Footprint Of A Product

The water footprint measures the amount of water used to produce each of the goods and services we use.

What is water footprint of a product.

Your water footprint is the amount of water you consume in your daily life including the water used to grow the food you eat to produce the energy you use and for all of the products in your daily life your books music house car furniture and the clothes you wear. The water footprint of a product is calculated by adding up all of the water required for each step of the production process. As population grows and the standard of living increases for many people the water footprint tells us how much water is used each and every day in all our activities such as for producing our food and to clothe us and indicates the pressure we exert on our freshwater resources. Created in 2002 by arjen hoekstra the water footprint is one of the family of environmental footprints that help us understand how our production and consumption choices are affecting natural resources.

It can be measured for a single process such as growing rice for a product such as a pair of jeans for the fuel we put in our car or for an entire multi national company. The water footprint of a product refers not only to the total volume of water used. It can be measured in cubic metres of water per tonne of production or litres per kilogram gallons per pound or per bottle of milk. Compare how much water is used to make a variety of products so that you can choose to reduce your water footprint.

The water footprint of a product is the total volume of freshwater used to produce the product summed over the various steps of the production chain. The water footprint of a product is the amount of water that is consumed and polluted in all processing stages of its production. A water footprint is measured in terms of the volume of water consumed evaporated and polluted. For those that want to find out more the green blue and grey water footprint shows the source of water consumed and the volume of fresh water required for assimilation of pollutants.

Water footprint of common consumer items. A water footprint is the volume of total direct and indirect water consumed evaporated and polluted contaminated during a specified stage of a product s lifecycle or the whole lifecycle from the material sourcing stage all the way through to disposal. Table 1 lists a sampling of water footprints for the manufacturing of some common consumer goods. It also refers to where and when the water is used.