Water Footprint: How Much Water Your Stuff Takes

We've all heard about carbon footprints. We know that the stuff we buy and use leaves a long trail of... stuff. A T-shirt involved growing cotton, which requires a lot of manual and mechanical work, it had to be turned into cotton as we know it, shipped, cut and sewn, shipped, packaged and labeled and maybe printed on, shipped and then -- voila -- sold!

But as water scarcity becomes increasingly pressing in nearer and nearer parts of the world, some folks think we need to pay attention to our water footprints, too. One latte, for example, requires 53 gallons of water!

Columbia News Service reports that a lot of people have no idea how much water goes into the production of their goods:

As she waited in line for her cup of decaf, Rachel Friedman, a 26-year-old nursing student, thought long and hard about the volume of water needed to make a cup of coffee and then offered "10 cups." When she heard the actual amount--592 cups--she was stunned.

Happily (sort of) people are developing ways for consumers to keep track of their water footprints.

Here's the easiest water footprint calculator I've seen.

Comments

[forbetterlifeandhealth]

Help save the earth!!! By not purchasing plastic bottled water, purchase paper bottled water instead. The new paper boxes degrade very quickly, the plastic bottles can remain for a very very long time. Also the plastic bottles tend to introduce carcinogens into the water. Drinking

[StopGlobalWarmingBeVegan]

This relates to the article, very interesting.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ7N-FPF0ac

[BabblingBrooks]

I can't tell how much water my footprint takes. The carbon soaked it all up...

[RobinBertelsen]

As one who grew up in California in the 1970s, I was conditioned to conserve water: turn off the tap when you brush, only wash full loads of clothes or dishes, and don't flush unless it's necessary. Of course, it turns out drought isn't a thing of the past, but something we're dealing with today in California and the "exceptional" conditions in Texas and Florida (see for yourself at http://drought.unl.edu/DM/MONITOR.html).

Back to that t-shirt, California and Texas grow a LOT of cotton. And they also grow a lot of food. So, the question is: Which is more important a cotton t-shirt or food? I think we'll all vote for the latter. (Here's a quick water calculator to show you how much water is used to make various types of clothing: http://www.airdye.com – I think you'll be surprised at how much it takes!)

I know the general feeling is, "Oh no, not something else to make us feel guilty." But we can do our part to make good choices daily to ensure the planet can continue to naturally recycle the tiny amount of fresh water available. Do the little things at home and work, plus start buying goods from companies who are not wasting or polluting water. There are alternatives. I hope that more people will talk about this, but we should not only address the problem, as in the article here, but look at the solutions too.

[BabblingBrooks]

You might know, having grown up there, that the first 7 settlements on the site of Los Angeles ALL DIED OUT DUE TO LACK OF WATER!

Much of California would be uninhabitable if not for water brought in from further inland.

There is much sense in conservation and wise use of resources. There is much nonsense in the climate-change-global-warming-anti-corporation-anti-western-civilization Church of Global Warming.

[RobinBertelsen]

BabblingBrooks,

I suppose we can all find common ground on the point that conservation is needed, regardless of the reason why. There is no doubt that using water for processes that have alternatives is the right thing to do.

And, I actually did not know that the first settlers in LA area died due to lack of water. But I'm not surprised. I grew up in San Francisco. Which of course, get's its water from the Hetch Hetchy. As a kid I was always fascinated by the ideas that we lived over the native rivers and lakes.

[skorp36]

This is ridiculous; water isn't destroyed by using it. The planet does a fairly good job of recycling it.

[JScott]

Yup but with too many humans on the planet it doesn't do a very good job.
Maybe if we humans tried to limit our numbers it might improve.

[BabblingBrooks]

Tell that to the Hispanics, Muslims, and other groups which are breeding rapidly while others limit their numbers. You are preaching to the groups already singing in the choir.

[sheila]

Great, so let's discuss the "water footprint" of Big Solar and Big Geothermal, for all those greenwashers out there who think Big Energy is the solution to global warming. CSP uses a minimum of 90,000 gallons per MW per year just for rinsing mirrors. Since our deserts are TOO HOT to efficiently produce power in the summer, in order to get the mythical "efficiency" numbers from CSP, they need to water cool it, requiring BILLIONS more gallons per year. I won't even go into the massive ecosystem deaths caused by 10 acres/MW permanently destroyed for Big Energy profits (plus roads and powerlines). Geothermal also runs out of water fairly quickly, then requires billions and billions of gallons to be piped in every year to generate the steam, rapidly depleting lakes, streams and aquifers in the region.

rooftop solar in the built environment, water conservation and energy efficiency, however ALL greatly REDUCE water and electric waste, line losses, ecosystem destruction, GHG emissions and ratepayer ripoffs. and WE can own it and if we fight for a feed in tariff, WE can be paid fairly for producing more clean energy than we consume. Democracy, Economy, Environment - all win.

The ONLY reason to support Big Energy's super-destructive Robber Baron tactics is ignorance or corruption. We have an opportunity to do the right thing here - let's not squander it.

[Semaj51]

First its the carbon footprint. Now its the water footprint. What will be next to make us feel bad?

[humble liberty]

Well with processing and giant facilities doesn't water take more than its amount, or do they factor that in? We have to drink something.