The water footprint of modern consumer society 1st edition. It includes your tap water use and the virtual water used to produce. Leahy drops a tsunami of sobering facts and infographics on the heads of readers who take what comes out of their faucets for granted. It helps to find the water consumed by a country, community, group of consumers or even the individuals. Grey water footprint is the amount of fresh water required to assimilate pollutants to meet specific water quality standards. For an individual, it includes water used directly for example, for drinking, bathing, cooking and washing clothes and water used indirectly for example, in producing things such as food, paper, electricity, steel and cotton clothes.
While billions of people on the planet face drought. What is your water footprint book exercise degree of comparison duration. 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. This water is necessary for producing steel for your car, growing cotton for your jeans, and processing your hamburger meat. The shocking facts about how much water we use to make everyday products says it all leahy, an awardwinning ontario environmental journalist who roams to the ends of the earth to report on environmental dangers, makes it clear that the most innocentseeming actions and products are far from waterneutral. It allows readers to get an idea of their water footprint, which goes beyond the direct water usage that were all familiar with, which is the amount of water we use from faucets, toilets, etc. Water footprint on site this course will familiarize you with the relevant concepts and background information of water footprinting and water use assessment in lca.
Sep 02, 2014 the average american lifestyle is kept afloat by about 2,000 gallons of h2o a day. Water footprint simple english wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Water footprint matters and china appears to have recognised this and is looking to reduce its virtual water dependency. The water footprint measures the amount of water used to produce each of the goods and services we use. To some degree, energy concerns sometimes overshadow water, even though california just declared a water state of emergency and dozens of other u.
What we put on our dinner table has a very high cost. From the foods we eat to the clothes we wear to the books we read and the music we listen to, all of it costs more than what we pay at the checkout. 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. The united states tops the list of global water footprint. The water footprint is an indicator of freshwater use that looks at both direct and indirect use of water by a consumer or producer.
If you want to get a better sense of your water usage there is an online tool, the water footprint calculator, developed by grace communications foundation. China seems to be well balanced with the water footprint. Mar, 2012 developing a water footprint for business resilience. What is your water footprint book exercise adjective. Ecocentric 11032014 your water footprint is a great example of a book that is shining the light on the impact we are having on the worlds limited fresh water supply. Water footprints of nations university of twente research information. The most elaborate publications on how to estimate water footprints are a 2004report on the water footprint of nations from unescoihe 3 and the 2008 book globalization of water by a. Javier lambarri belendez 2017 huella hidrica en mexico.
A water footprint shows the extent of water use in relation to consumption by people. The water footprint of modern consumer society 2nd. Water footprint article by chris white by pete white issuu. Your water footprint goodreads meet your next favorite book. Your water footprint reveals the true cost of our lifestyle. The water footprint of our everyday lives water deeply. The water footprint assessment manual water footprint network. This calculation is based on an annual clothing use of 2,488,396 tonnes. Mar 24, 2009 thanks for drawing attention to the need for more organizations to pay attention to their water footprint.
Water use is measured in water volume consumed evaporated andor polluted per unit of time. The 125 footprint facts in this book show the true cost of our lifestyle and what it is doing to earth, including draining it dry. A mixture of lecture day 1 and practical modeling day 2, this course will guide you through steps for preforming a water footprint study. The total water footprint per capitayear is reported to be 700 m3. A water footprint is the amount of fresh water used to produce the goods and services we consume, including growing, harvesting, packaging, and shipping. A comprehensive introduction to water footprints pseau. The water footprint of modern consumer society is worthy of the highest recommendation especially for college and university library collections james a. Aug 16, 2011 whatever the total water requirement may be, brewing companies have more control over beers water footprint once raw materials arrive at a plant. The virtual water concept shows the amount of water used in human activities. This book contains the global standard for water footprint assessment as. When a country imports one tonne of wheat instead of producing it domestically, it is saving about 1,300 cubic meters of real indigenous water. Background materials can be freely downloaded from further, the following book is recommended. Thats the sum of fresh water used by a person both directly at home and indirectly in the production of goods and services consumed.
Water use is an essential environmental indicator for all activities in the product life cycle. Water footprint calculator daily water consumption by human. The water footprint of a nation is the amount of water used to produce the goods and services consumed by the inhabitants of that nation. Blue water footprint blue water footprint grey water footprint water consumption water pollution hoekstra, 2008 nonconsumptive water use return flow water withdrawal the traditional statistics on water use components of a water footprint the water footprint is.
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 multinational company. It is an excellent read for anyone interested in the impact of our modern lifestyle. The water footprint of food university of twente research information. Chapter in bookreportconference proceeding chapter. Review of data on embodied water in clothing summary report. 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. Based on the pure measure of water quantity used, the associated environmental impacts of both direct and indirect water use are of eminent importance to identify the life cycle based water footprint of corporations see kohler, 2008. Reducing water footprints is an environmental challenge food and beverage companies should be prepared to meet if they want to maintain their competitive position. Stephen leahy won the prestigious lane anderson award for the best science writing in canada in 2014 for his book your water footprint. Waterpub water footprint publications water footprint network. A water footprint is the total volume of fresh water used by an individual, a household, a business, a community or a country.
As irresistible as it is alarming, leahys water footprint primer is a catalyst for conservation of our most precious endangered resource. The average american lifestyle is kept afloat by about 2,000 gallons of h2o a day. The virtual water trade is the idea that when goods and services are exchanged, so is virtual water. Ecocentric 11032014 your water footprint is a great. Nov 05, 2014 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. 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.
Water footprint of cotton, wheat and rice production in. The calculator walks you through how much water you. The water footprint is the measure of the average amount of total volume of freshwater which is used to produce goods and services we use. Understanding the total contributions to your water footprint is the first step to creating a culture of conservation and protecting. The bottled water footprint george mason university. Companies must address their water footprint, says analyst. The water footprint of a good or a service is the total amount of water, external and. Water is not only used in the domestic context, but also in agriculture and industry in the production of commercial goods, from food to paper. Breweries across the world strive to decrease beers water. In the time span of one week, if each of these students purchased a 20 oz bottle of water, it would be equivalent to 640,000oz or 5,000 gallons of bottled water per week. The water footprint is an indicator of water use that includes both direct and indirect wateruse of a consumer or producer.
Books about conservation are nothing new to nonfiction for teens, but the skillfully depicted infographics and mindboggling facts make your water footprint a. Chapagain university of the free state, south africa, member of the water footprint research alliance. Jul 25, 2016 but the information on water usage provided by water utilities on our monthly bills is only a small part of how much water we really use. The water footprint is a geographically explicit indicator, not only showing volumes of water use and pollution, but also the locations and timing of water use. Environmental footprints library binding september 1, 2009 by paul mason ph. Journalist stephen leahys new book about water footprints is a great introduction to the mysterious world of water. Sep 10, 20 in light of this legal wrangling, cocacola was the first company to approach the water footprint network back in 2008 when professor hoekstra founded the organisation, franke said. Your water footprint is an attempt to inform the public, in terms easy to understand, about the impending global water crisis and our part in it. Analysis of the water footprint of nations illustrates the global dimension of water consumption and pollution, by showing that several countries rely heavily on foreign water resources and that consumption patterns in many countries significantly and in. Indirect water is needed to produce, grow, or manufacture the items we use every day. This was a social pressure, but also it can happen that they lack water for the production itself. Sep 18, 2008 lexicon on the heels of carbon footprint pun intended, an increasingly common term is water footprint. Focusing not on fresh water use in general but on its footprintmeaning water that agricultural and manufacturing processes leave polluted or otherwise locally unusablethe author sprays his urgently toned narrative with alarming observations and eye.
Nov 18, 2014 a new book, your water footprint, by environmental reporter stephen leahy, takes a close look at the virtual water that surrounds us in everyday life. The water footprint of a country is defined as the volume of water needed for the production of. The shocking facts about how much water we use to make everyday products. Presented in clever, understandable graphics, your water footprint raises readers awareness of how much water is used to make the things we use, consume and grow. 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. At george mason university, the student population is a little over 32,000 students.