Information

=**Information**=

toc Introduction
People use lots of water for drinking, cooking and washing, but even more for producing things such as food, paper, cotton clothes, etc. The water footprint is an indicator of water use that looks at both direct and indirect water use of a consumer or producer. 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 relation between consumption and water use**  "The interest in the water footprint is rooted in the recognition that human impacts on freshwater systems can ultimately be linked to human consumption, and that issues like water shortages and pollution can be better understood and addressed by considering production and supply chains as a whole," says Professor Arjen Y. Hoekstra, creator of the water footprint concept and scientific director of the Water Footprint Network. "Water problems are often closely tied to the structure of the global economy. Many countries have significantly externalised their water footprint, importing water-intensive goods from elsewhere. This puts pressure on the water resources in the exporting regions, where too often mechanisms for wise water governance and conservation are lacking. Not only governments, but also consumers, businesses and civil society communities can play a role in achieving a better management of water resources." media type="file" key="Water Movie Pictures.wmv" width="465" height="483" align="right"

The Global Water Footprint Standard is contained in the Water Footprint Assessment Manual __Download the manual__ __//**If the video**//__ ﻿ __//**doesn't work, click this link;**//__ .Water Movie Pictures

Some facts and figures Water media type="youtube" key="Jzw_ct3eKp0?version=3" height="336" width="378" Did you know that Canada is one of the highest water users per capita in the world? It's no wonder that easy access to safe, clean water is considered to be an important issue. Managing Canada's water resources, which represents about seven per cent of the world's renewable freshwater, is everyone’s responsibility.
 * The production of one kilogram of beef requires 15 thousand litres of water (93% green, 4% blue, 3% grey water footprint). There is a huge variation around this global average. The precise footprint of a piece of beef depends on factors such as the type of production system and the composition and origin of the feed of the cow.
 * To water footprint of a 150-gram soy burger produced in the Netherlands is about 160 litres. A beef burger from the same country costs about 1000 litres.
 * The water footprint of Chinese consumption is about 1070 cubic meter per year per capita. About 10% of the Chinese water footprint falls outside China.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">Japan with a footprint of 1380 cubic meter per year per capita, has about 77% of its total water footprint outside the borders of the country.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none;">The water footprint of <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">US citizens is 2840 cubic meter per year per capita. About 20% of this water footprint is external. The largest external water footprint of US consumption lies in the Yangtze river basin, China.
 * <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-align: left; text-decoration: none;"><span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; display: block; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none;">The <span style="background-color: transparent; color: #000000; font-family: Times New Roman; font-size: 16px; text-align: justify; text-decoration: none; vertical-align: auto;">global water footprint in the period 1996-2005 was 9087 Gm3/yr (74% green, 11% blue, 15% grey). Agricultural production contributes 92% to this total footprint.