What is a Water Footprint?

Water Footprint is the total amount of freshwater used directly and indirectly by consumers and manufacturers.

What is direct vs. indirect water usage?

Direct water usage is when you turn on a faucet, take a shower, drink a glass of water, etc.  Indirect use is the water used to produce, grow, and manufacturer the items that we use.  For instance, to create one pint of beer it takes 20 gallons of water.

Up to 70% of the world’s fresh water usage is used for agriculture,  meaning everything we eat impacts the water supply.  This large pwater supply has become a critical issue for the food and beverage industry. ln addition to the fresh water used in agriculture, nearly every manufacturing process uses water to produce computers, cars, power, petrochemical refining, and pharmaceuticals.

Factoids

• It takes about 37 gallons of water to grow the coffee beans and process them to make one cup of coffee.
• More than 1,300 gallons is required to produce a 12oz steak.
• About 6,800 gallons of water is required to grow a day's food for a family of four.
• It takes 52 gals of water to produce one glass of pasteurized milk. The ratio is 1,000:1 so to produce 1 gallon of milk in the fridge takes 1,000 gallons out in the fields
• It takes more than 10 gallons of water to produce one slice of wheat bread. If you eat the bread with a slice of cheese then you add another 13 gallons.

Why is it important to reduce your water footprint?

In the U.S. today, there are serious water shortages in places like California, Arizona, Texas and Georgia.  Lack of water impacts the ability to grow economically and sustain population growth.

We can’t make or produce new water, so it is necessary to conserve and manage water.  Treat it as a valuable resource.  In most parts of the United States, water is taken for granted.  North America is the largest user of water with approximately 1,800 gallons per day/per person, including agriculture and industry.

What are ways people can reduce their water footprint?

People can reduce their water footprint by making better choices and decisions.  By making simple changes in a daily regimen, such as watering the lawn less, using low flow toilets, and not running the water while you brush your teeth, water footprint can be reduced.

Another way to reduce water footprint is by making better decisions regarding the food that you eat and the products that you buy. More and more manufacturers are environmentally savvy and responsible in regards to food and product production. This will help your indirect water usage considerably. Some consumer groups are calling for water footprint labeling on the products we buy in food stores as they already do in some countries for carbon. 

For example: if products were labeled, consumers could select clothes produced with cotton grown in rain-fed fields instead of clothes produced from fields grown in arid regions, which uses forced irrigation.

Factoids:

• Using a low-flow faucet can save you 3.5 gallons per minute.
• Using a low-flow toilet can save nearly 5 gallons per flush. Brushing your teeth requires around 2 gallons of water.  Shut off the water while you brush.
• A five minute shower can use 25-50 gallons of water. A low-flow shower head can help reduce water usage by about 40%.
• Fix your leaky faucet; left alone it can waste up to 100 gallons of water a day. An automatic dishwasher uses approximately 9 to 12 gallons of water while hand washing dishes can use up to 20 gallons. 

  Try our Facebook Personal Water Footprint Calculator !

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What are manufacturers doing to reduce their water footprint?

As a major component of manufacturing, companies consider good water management strategic to their business and a key competitive advantage with positive bottom line impacts too, as well as being good for the environment.

The impact of manufacturing on the water supply is huge, and forward-thinking manufacturers are now looking at ways to have a “net-zero” impact on the environment by creating a sustainable water supply in their efforts of reducing their water footprint.

There are many ways to do this—small and large within the manufacturing process: Reusing/recycling water within the plant: Water is used in all parts of the manufacturing process. By capturing and reusing water for, boilerfeed water or utility water, manufacturers can help reduce their impact on fresh water supplies.

For example:

• One beverage manufacturer re-captured the water they were using for bottle washing.  Before, it was simply going down the drain. After, they were able to recycle the water and reuse it again and again—saving 25,000 gallons/day.
• Another beverage supplier reuses 80% of the steam from its boilers and reduce its bottle rinse cycles, allowing the company to save 400,000 gallons per year.
• One biopharmaceutical manufacturer recovered its waste stream and reused its feedwater, which allowed the company to recover more than 52 million gallons per year.
• A U.S. Bottler increased water recovery from 75 to over 90 percent, and reduced the plant's water consumption by approximately 16 million gallons per year.    Read More 
• One biopharmaceutical manufacturer recovered its waste stream and reused its feedwater, which allowed the company to recover more than 52 million gallons per year.  Read More
• Communities are also reclaiming water for use in agricultural, industrial and indirect potable use.  The Orange County Water District in Southern, California, uses advanced water treatment technology to recover 75 million gallons per day-reducing the impact on local water supplies.   Read More
• An automotive manufacturer recovers and reclaims more than 100,000 gallons per day from its manufacturing process, using various technologies.   Read More

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