1 page document - water footprint

1 The water footprint assessment manualHardback PPC: Live area 159 x 240mm Trim size 156 x 234mm Bleed 18mm Spine 1 page documentCover image: water Background BAYRAMW ater / Environmental and Sustainability assessment / Agriculture and FoodEarthscan strives to minimize its impact on the use a lot of water for drinking, cooking and washing, but significantly more for producing things such as food, paper and cotton clothes. The water footprint is an indicator of water use that looks at both direct and indirect water use of a consumer or producer.

2 Indirect use refers to the virtual water embedded in tradable goods and commodities, such as cereals, sugar or cotton. The water footprint of an individual, community or business is defined as the total volume of fresh water that is used to produce the goods and services consumed by the individual or community or produced by the book offers a complete and up-to-date overview of the global standard on water footprint assessment as developed by the water footprint Network. More specifically it:provides a comprehensive set of methods for water footprint assessmentshows how water footprints can be calculated for individual processes and products, as well as for consumers, nations and businessescontains detailed worked examples of how to calculate green, blue and grey water footprints describes how to assess the sustainability of the aggregated water footprint within a river basin or the water footprint of a specific productincludes an extensive library of possible measures that can contribute to water footprint Y.

3 Hoekstra is Professor in water Management at the University of Twente, the Netherlands; creator of the water footprint concept and Scientific Director of the water footprint K. Chapagain was an irrigation engineer in Nepal for more than a decade, has worked as a researcher at the University of Twente and currently works for the WWF in the M. Aldaya works as a consultant for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and is a researcher at the water footprint M. Mekonnen was an energy expert at the Ministry of Mines and Energy in Ethiopia, and is currently a PhD student at the University of water footprint assessment ManualSetting the Global StandardThe water footprint assessment ManualArjen Y.

4 Hoekstra, Ashok K. Chapagain, Maite M. Aldaya and Mesfin M. MekonnenHoekstra, Chapagain, Aldaya and MekonnenThe water footprint assessment ManualThe water footprint assessment ManualSetting the Global StandardArjen Y. Hoekstra, Ashok K. Chapagain, Maite M. Aldaya and Mesfin M. MekonnenLondon Washington, DCp u b l i s h i n g f o r a s u s t a i n a b l e f u t u reFirst published in 2011 by EarthscanCopyright water footprint Network 2011 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, except as expressly permitted by law, without the prior, written permission of the publisher.

5 Earthscan Ltd, Dunstan House, 14a St Cross Street, London EC1N 8XA, UKEarthscan LLC,1616 P Street, NW, Washington, DC 20036, USAE arthscan publishes in association with the International Institute for Environment and DevelopmentFor more information on Earthscan publications, see or write to 978-1-84971-279-8 hardback Typeset by JS Typesetting Ltd, Porthcawl, Mid GlamorganCover design by Rob Watts; water footprint design by Angela MorelliA catalogue record for this book is available from the British LibraryLibrary of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication DataThe water footprint assessment manual : setting the global standard / Arjen Y.

6 Hoekstra .. [et al.]. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-84971-279-8 (hardback)1. water consumption Measurement. 2. water consumption Environmental aspects. 3. water -supply Accounting. I. Hoekstra, Arjen Y., 1967 2011 13 dc22 2010047901At Earthscan we strive to minimize our environmental impacts and carbon footprint through reducing waste, recycling and offsetting our CO2 emissions, including those created through publication of this book.

7 For more details of our environmental policy, see and bound in the UK by TJ International Ltd, Padstow, paper used is FSC certified and the ink are vegetable of Figures, Tables and Boxes ixAcknowledgements xiiiPreface xviiAcronyms xix1 Introduction 1 Background 1 The water footprint concept 2 water footprint assessment 3 Guide for the reader 52 Goals and Scope of water footprint assessment 7 Goals of water footprint assessment 7 Scope of water footprint accounting 9 Scope of water footprint sustainability assessment 15 Scope of water footprint response formulation 163 water footprint Accounting 19 Human appropriation of fresh water : What do we measure and why?

8 19 Coherence between different sorts of water footprint accounts 21 water footprint of a process step 23 Blue water footprint 23 Green water footprint 29 Grey water footprint 30 Calculation of the green, blue and grey water footprint of growing a crop or tree 40 water footprint of a product 46 Definition 46 Schematization of the production system into process steps 47 Calculation of a product water footprint 48 water footprint of a consumer or group of consumers 52vi The water footprint assessment manual Definition 52 Calculation 52 water footprint within a geographically delineated area 53 Definition 53 Calculation 53 National water footprint accounting 54 The national water footprint accounting

9 Scheme 54 Calculation of the water footprint within a nation 55 Calculation of the water footprint of national consumption 56 water savings related to trade 60 National water dependency versus water self-sufficiency 61 water footprint accounting for catchments and river basins 61 water footprint accounting for municipalities, provinces or other administrative units 63 water footprint of a business 63 Definition 63 Choosing the organizational boundaries of the business 65 Calculation of the business water footprint 684 water footprint Sustainability assessment 73 Introduction 73 Geographic sustainability.

10 Sustainability of the water footprint within a catchment or river basin 76 Introduction 76 Environmental sustainability criteria for identifying environmental hotspots 78 Social sustainability criteria for identifying social hotspots 87 Economic sustainability criteria for identifying economic hotspots 88 Assessing primary and secondary impacts in the hotspots identified 88 Sustainability of the water footprint of a process 89 Sustainability of the water footprint of a product 91 Identifying the unsustainable components in the water footprint of a product 91 water footprint impact indices reflecting local environmental impacts 94 Sustainability of the water footprint of a business 97 Sustainability of the water footprint of a consumer 97 Contents vii5 Library of water footprint Response Options 99 Shared responsibility 99 Reducing the water footprint of humanity: What is possible?