Question

• Describe strategies to minimize global water footprints.

Answer 1

A water footprint is an indicator that looks at both the direct and indirect water use of an individual, business, community, city or country.

Direct water use refers to the water we see coming out of the tap: the fresh water we use each day for drinking, cooking, showering, washing dishes and clothes, and gardening etc.

Indirect water use refers to the water that is used to manufacture the goods that we consume or produce, and the services that we use, as well as all of the water that is made unusable by pollution or wasted by non-use. That includes all of the water used to grow the food that we eat eat, to produce the things we use in daily life - clothes, books and furniture - and the water needed to produce the energy we use.

While this indirect water is "invisible", we often use far more of it than we realise.

Following are some measures by which Global Water Footprint can be minimized :-

• turning off the tap while brushing your teethusing water-saving
• toiletsinstalling a water-saving shower headtaking shorter showersonly
• washing your clothes when necessaryfixing household leaksusing less
• water in the garden and when cleaningnot disposing of medicines,
• paints or other pollutants down the sink.

When it comes to reducing your indirect water footprint, there are a number of different approaches you can take.

The food we eat makes up a huge part of our personal water footprints, and implementing some of these changes could have knock-on benefits for your health too. Examples include:

Eating less meat. Beef is one of the most water-intensive proteins, needing 15,000 litres of water per kg, followed by red meats in general. Other, less water-intensive proteins include pulses like beans, lentils and peas. Chicken has a much lower water footprint than beef, so if you're not ready to become vegetarian or vegan just yet, giving up or just cutting back on red meat can help.

Switching coffee for tea. Cups of tea and coffee may look like they contain the same amounts of liquid, but producing coffee beans requires far more water than growing tea leaves, around 140 litres for a cup of coffee and around 34 litres for tea.

Cutting down on sugar. Drinking a bottle of cola actually consumes around two or three bathtubs full of water. Growing sugar cane uses a lot of water (and often water-polluting pesticides too), not to mention the water that goes into producing plastic packaging.

Eating less processed food. Water is required at every stage of food production - refining, processing, canning, packaging. Eating fresher food means consuming less water, sugar, salt, preservatives and chemicals.

Consuming more local produce. Producing a tank of petrol requires a lot of water, so reducing the amount of miles you food has to cover from farm to plate will also help save. And your food will be fresher and more rich in vitamins too. Win-win!

Buying quality, not quantity. The clothes we wear use huge amounts of freshwater. Cotton fabrics and denim jeans are particularly greedy. Buy well-made clothes that are intended to last, rather than huge amounts of cheaply-produced items that will need to be replaced. The same goes for any other consumer product, as practically all manufactured products - from electronics to books and cosmetics - consume water in the production process. Buying less will protect the world's water supply and your wallet.

The responsibility for cutting back on water consumption shouldn't just lie with consumers, of course. For people to be able to make informed decisions about which options to choose, businesses need to be transparent about their processes, and governments more forward-thinking when it comes to regulation. When information is available on the impacts of a certain article on the water system, consumers can make conscious choices about what they buy. And if governments were to bring in water-saving measures, businesses would be incentivised or perhaps even obligated, to introduce water-saving measures.