Most of us have got used to hearing about a carbon footprint over the past decade or so, but a buzzword that is being heard more and more lately is water-footprint. So what exactly is a water-footprint?

The buzzword or term “water footprint” is a concept intended to raise your awareness of how much water you consume and, perhaps, inspire you to use less. What most people do not realise is that your water footprint is not the amount of water you drink daily or even the amount that you use around your office or home, but is actually “the total volume of freshwater needed to produce the goods and services that an individual, business, or community consumes.”

Most of us have never given a thought to the amount of water that is used to manufacture what we eat, drink, wear, or use in a myriad of ways every single day of our lives.

Here are some Water Footprint figures that will shock you:

  • Did you know, for instance, that although you may only use around 220ml of water to make a cup of coffee, it actually took approximately 140 litres of water to produce that coffee;
  • That lovely white cotton shirt that you put on for work every morning took a staggering 2, 698 litres to produce;
  • One 30 gram slice of bread has a water footprint of 18 litres of water;
  • One kilogram of cheese takes about 5,060 litres to produce;
  • That 100-gram chocolate bar that you love so much utilises 1,700 litres of water to produce;
  • The Global average water footprint for pasta is 1,849 litre/kg;
  • Your evening glass of wine takes 109 litres of water to produce; and
  • The global average water footprint for the peanuts that you munch with your ale at the pub takes 2,782 litre/kg.

So, being aware of your own water footprint is one way to curb your water consumption; keeping a check on the water footprint of any companies that you deal with in your business supply-chain is another. We can and must all do our bit to save water!

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