Green water consumption of water or rainfall that is stored in the soil or plants. The water footprint is an indicator of water use that includes both direct and indirect water use of a consumer or producer. The total volume of fresh water used by an individual, a household, a business, a community or a country, internal footprint all the water used inside a country. The internal water footprint is the water use within the country in so far it is used to produce goods and services consumed by the national population. Your individual water footprint is equal to the water required to produce the goods and services consumed by you. First, new standards are now provided to address ecological footprint assessments for products and organizations sections iii and iv.
Water footprint definition of water footprint by medical. International virtual water flows are estimated based on trade in. The water footprint is the amount of water consumed by human activity as well as the assimilation capacity used the ability of a body of water to cleanse itself. Water footprints and sustainable water allocation mdpi. The water footprint of a product is defined as the volume of freshwater used to produce the product 11. The water footprint of an intermediate or final product is the aggregate of the water footprints of the various process steps relevant in the production of the product. This study sought new evidence, using a recently developed life cycle impact assessment method for water use to assess six. A water footprint is only useful when it informs better decision making.
Often, when considering someones carbon footprint, it is usually in terms of the amount of carbon dioxide they directly or indirectly produce. Carbon footprint definition is the amount of greenhouse gases and specifically carbon dioxide emitted by something such as a persons activities or a products manufacture and transport during a. It has become one of the most widely used measures of humanitys effect upon the environment and has been used to highlight both the apparent unsustainability of current practices and global inequalities. The water footprint of biofuel production can be divided into three different classes, namely green, blue, and gray water footprint. These goods and services may be needed around the entire world. Understanding their water footprint can help individuals understand how their consumption affects others access to. The water footprint of china is about 700 m 3 per year per capita. People use a lot of water for drinking, cooking and washing, but significantly more for producing things such as food, paper and cotton clothes.
Water footprints are composed of three separate calculations. Green water footprint is water from precipitation stored in soil and incorporated by plants. Rationale in water footprint and virtual water trade assessment. The calculations are based on the water requirements per unit of product as in your country of residence. The water footprint concept was introduced in 2002 by arjen y. This study quantifies and maps the water footprint wf of humanity at a high spatial resolution. Only air and soil emissions that impact water quality are included in the assessment, and not all air and soil emissions are included. Carbon footprint definition of carbon footprint by.
Learn more about water footprints concepts, how they are calculated, the difference between direct and virtual water use and how different countries use water. But at the national level, this becomes complex the water footprint of a nation is equal to the use of domestic water resources, minus the virtual water export flows, plus the virtual water import flows. Water footprint manual university of twente research information. The water footprint of a nation is defined as the total amount of water. Carbon footprint definition is the amount of greenhouse gases and specifically carbon dioxide emitted by something such as a persons activities or a products manufacture and transport during a given period. The amount of surface water and groundwater required evaporated or used directly to produce an item. It reports on consumptive use of rainwater green wf and ground and surface water blue wf and volumes of water polluted gray wf. A measure of the amount of freshwater used by a person, organization or state in a given time. It shows how green, blue and grey water footprints are.
The water footprint of an individual consumer is a function of the water footprints of the various products consumed by the consumer. The water footprint of a business, the corporate water footprint, is defined as the total volume of fresh water that is used directly or indirectly to run and support a business. The external water footprint of a country is the annual volume of water resources used in other countries to produce goods and services imported into and consumed in the country considered. It would be useful to integrate the stock measure with the. Your personal water footprint is related to your consumption habits, lifestyle and country of residence. Footprint standard covers a comprehensive set of definitions and methods for water footprint accounting.
A water footprint is the amount of freshwater used by individuals, groups or companies in order to make goods or provide services used by the community. This water footprint may be a green water footprint rainwater consumed, blue water footprint volume of surface and groundwater consumed evaporated as a result of production of the product and gray water footprint meaning the volume of freshwater required to assimilate the load of. Water footprint refers to the amount of water used both directly and indirectly by each consumer. It can cover a process, product, or even a whole company. Definition of the green and blue wf in relation to the water balance of a catchment area. A blue water footprint is the volume of water that has been sourced from surface or groundwater resources lakes, rivers, wetlands and aquifers and has either evaporated for example while irrigating crops, or been incorporated into a product or taken from one body of water and returned to another, or returned at a different time. Carbon footprint definition of carbon footprint by merriam. In the context of a business, this means enabling the business to take a better decision regarding how it manages it plants, how it works with suppliers, or how it engages with governments on. Feb 28, 2012 the water footprint of chinese consumption is still relatively small and largely internal 90%, but given the countrys rapid growth and the growing water stress particularly in north china, the country is likely to increasingly rely on water resources outside its territory, evidenced by chinas policy already today to buy or lease lands. To produce one cup of coffee we need 140 litres of water. Blue water footprint refers to water sourced from surface and groundwater reservoirs which can either be incorporated into products or other water reservoir systems. Analysis of water footprints depend on the boundaries of the system, recognizing the footprint for a barn is a component of the footprint for a county, which is. International trade in wheat is responsible for 75 billionm3 of virtual water exports annually, which is about 6% of the total sum. The carbon footprint is the total set of greenhouse gas emissions we individually cause.
Growing and processing crops and livestock consumes large quantities of water. Background materials can be freely downloaded from further. The water footprint of an individual, community or business is defined as the total volume of fresh water used to produce the goods and services consumed by the individual or community or produced by the business. The concepts of water footprint and virtual water gdrc. Review of data on embodied water in clothing summary report. The water footprint of a product good or service is the volume of fresh water used to produce the product, summed over the various steps of the production chain. Water footprint simple english wikipedia, the free.
Any teacher looking to get a very detailed introduction to the topic or anyone who wants a comprehensive read on lcas should look here. The water footprint of humanity pubmed central pmc. Water use in the livestock sector has featured in the debate about sustainable food systems. Only about 7 percent of the chinese water footprint falls outside china. A water footprint is a measure of the amount of water used to produce goods and services and the water impacted by the system. Water footprint simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. In order to manage more efficiently the control over human freshwater expenditure, dutch professor arjen hoekstra coined in 2002 the concept of water footprint. The usefulness of the carbon footprint differs from the energy footprint and has been justified in two respects. At the individual level, this is expressed in litres. Water footprints encompass not only the water directly used by the consumer, but the water indirectly used to produce consumer goods. A water footprint is more than a figure for the total water volume used. A water footprint can be broken into three different subareas.
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. Water use is an essential environmental indicator for all activities in the product life cycle. Water footprint matters and china appears to have recognised this and is looking to reduce its virtual water dependency. Water neutral means that one reduces the water footprint of an activity as much as reasonably possible and offsets the negative externalities of the remaining water footprint. The carbon footprint is a means of determining someones environmental impact that is often used. Water footprint of an animal sum of water for feed, drinking and servicing water footprint of a crop or livestock product distribute the water footprint of the root product over its derived products the water footprint m3ton of primary crops can be calculated as the crop water use at field level m3ha divided by the crop yield tonha. Fifth, the ecological footprint represents a stock measure. A water footprint is an illustrative tool to measure total freshwater consumption for countries, states, counties, cities, organizations, or even a single person.
But at the national level, this becomes complex the water footprint of a nation is equal to the use of domestic water resources, minus the. Virtual water and water footprint environmental justice. The ecological footprint standards 2009 includes a number of substantial revisions to the previous 2006 edition. Understanding the carbon footprint of your water use. In the context of a business, this means enabling the business to take a better decision regarding how it manages it plants, how it works with suppliers, or how it engages with governments on policy issues. The water footprint assessment manual water footprint network. Gray water footprint refers to the quantity of water needed to assimilate pollutants to meet stringent water quality standards.
The water footprint is an indicator of water use that looks at both direct and indirect water use of a consumer or producer. Ecological footprint, measure of the demands made by a person or group of people on global natural resources. It is not only measures the water we use from the tap, but the hidden water used to produce our food, energy, clothes, cars and other items. The water footprint of chinese consumption is still relatively small and largely internal 90%, but given the countrys rapid growth and the growing water stress particularly in north china, the country is likely to increasingly rely on water resources outside its territory, evidenced by chinas policy already today to buy or lease lands.
Find out how many planets would be needed if everyone in the world lived like you. Despite criticisms, water footprint has certainly proven to be a useful concept and it is heartening to see the continued growth of water footprint research. This calculation is based on an annual clothing use of 2,488,396 tonnes. Footprint definition of footprint by merriamwebster.
A comprehensive introduction to water footprints pseau. What is ecological footprint and ways to reduce it earth. Water footprints are estimated per nation from both a production and consumption perspective. The report discusses what the water footprint results. The water footprint of an individual, community or business is defined as the total volume of freshwater used to produce the goods and services consumed by the individual or community or produced by the business. The water footprint shows the extent of water use in relation to consumption by people. Most evidence has come from virtual water calculations which lack impact assessment and adequate consideration of the heterogeneity in livestock production. An indicator of both direct and indirect water use by a consumer or producer. Linkages, overlaps, and differences among the three indicators are then highlighted to show how the indicators interact and complement each other. The term water footprint is used to indicate the amount of fresh water that any given process or activity uses. 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. Japan with a footprint of 1,150 m 3 per year per capita, has about 65.
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