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The Water Footprint
[edit]The water footprint is an indicator of water use that looks at both direct and indirect water use of a consumer or producer.[1] 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.
The water footprint of a country is related to what its people eat. In 1993, Professor John Allan (2008 Stockholm Water Prize Laureate), strikingly demonstrated this by introducing the "virtual water" concept,[2][1] which measures how water is embedded in the production and trade of food and other products. For example, it a common thought that the water involved in a cup of coffee is just the water in the cup. There is actually 140 litres of water involved. The 140 litres of water is the amount of water that was used to grow, produce, package, and ship the coffee beans.[1] A hamburger needs an estimated 2,400 litres of water. This hidden water is technically called virtual water.[1] Therefore, eating a lot of meat means a large water footprint. The more food comes from irrigated land, the larger is the water footprint.[3]
Components
[edit]A water footprint consists of three components:
- blue water - fresh water in lakes, rivers, aquifers
- green water - water from rainwater stored in soil
- grey water - polluted water
Being sustainable means using blue water wisely and not making grey water.[4] Humans have polluted much water. Some rivers have so much rubbish in places that boats are pushing its way through the rubbish, for example, the Lake Karachay in Russia. It was the dumping site for radioactive waste, the water under the rubbish has chemicals from factories and toilets.
An Australian water conservation specialist Bradley George Ridoutt did a study on a jar of pasta sauce and a bag of peanut M&M's.[5] The water needed to grow tomatoes, sugar, garlic, and onions for the sauce was 197 litres. For the M&M's, cocoa and peanuts was 1,135 litres. However, tomato plants are often grown in hot, dry claimants. They get irrigation water from the same locations as human drinking water. Cocoa and peanuts in M&M's are grown where crops get rainwater from the ground. The specialist calculated that the pasta sauce was about 10 times more likely than the M&M's to ass to water scarcity.[5] This was because the blue water used for tomatoes was much higher stress-weighted than the green water for the cocoa and peanuts. Blue water is stress-weighted because it is consumed at rates faster than its short-term replacement.
Water footprint of companies
[edit]The Coca-Cola Company operates over a thousand manufacturing plants in about 200 countries. Making its drink uses a lot of water. Critics say its water footprint has been large. Coca-Cola has started to look at its water sustainability.[6] It has now set out goals to reduce its water footprint such as treating the water it uses so it goes back into the environment in a clean state. Another goal is to find sustainable sources for the raw materials it uses in its drinks, such as sugarcane, oranges, and corn. By making its water footprint better, the company can reduce costs, improve the environment, and benefit the communities in which it operates. [4]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d "Waterfootprint.org: Water footprint and virtual water". The Water Footprint Network. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
- ^ Allan, Tony (2011). Virtual water : tackling the threat to our planet's most precious resource. London: I.B. Tauris. ISBN 978-1845119836.
- ^ Morelli, Angela (2012). "Virtual Water - Discover how much WATER we EAT everyday". Retrieved 9 April 2014.
- ^ a b Naumann, Ruth (2011). Sustainability (1st ed.). North Shore, N.Z.: Cengage Learning. pp. 56–58. ISBN 978-017021-034-8.
- ^ a b Ridoutt, Bradley George (2009). "Product Water Footprint: How Transferable Are the Concepts From Carbon Footprinting?" (PDF). Conference ALCAS(Australian Life Cycle Assessment Society). Retrieved 6 April 2014.
{{cite journal}}: Unknown parameter|coauthors=ignored (|author=suggested) (help) - ^ "2013 Water Report: The Coca-Cola Company". The Coca-Cola Company. Retrieved 8 April 2014.