Water footprint measures water use over time, including indirect use for consumer goods. It can be used to assess countries, companies, and demographics. Water is a fundamental resource, and reducing water waste can improve global water security. Water awareness can increase access to safe drinking water.
A water footprint is a measure of how much water is used over a given period of time. Water footprints include not only water used directly by the consumer, but also water used indirectly to produce consumer goods. In addition to looking at individual water footprints, it is also possible to look at the footprints of countries, companies and demographic groups. This concept was developed in 2002 as part of a global United Nations effort to raise awareness of water consumption and to address the security of the global water supply.
Water is a fundamental resource. In the home, people use water for drinking, cooking, bathing and washing, but water is also involved in the production of many consumer goods, from produce to paper. In order to accurately assess someone’s water footprint, the assessment must consider the person’s eating habits, lifestyle, etc., and water footprints are also often based on the lifestyles experienced by other people in the community. Americans, for example, have very large water footprints due to their reliance on animal products and corn for food, while people in remote regions of Africa often have very small water footprints due to their diet and lifestyle.
Water footprints include the amount of fresh water used directly and indirectly, along with the amount of water that evaporates to meet a consumer’s needs, and the amount of water polluted. At each stage of the process, improvements can be made to reduce the size of the water footprint. For example, tighter controls on agricultural pollution can reduce the water footprint of meat consumption, while using water recovery in factories can reduce the amount of fresh water wasted in the production of consumer goods.
Some researchers in the 1990s identified water as one of the emerging problems of the 21st century. In 2008, it was estimated that one in six people in the world’s population did not have access to a safe supply of fresh water, and the water supply is steadily decreasing. Especially in regions with high population pressure, such as India and China, water is a very serious problem, and conflicts arise in the developed world between nations fighting for water rights, better pollution controls and other issues related to water.
United Nations officials can use the water footprint as a clear and easy-to-understand illustration to show people how they and their nations can improve their water use. By reducing the amount of water used and wasted, people can contribute to the security of the global water supply. Water awareness is also designed to help provide the technology and scientific know-how needed to increase access to safe drinking water.
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