Calculation of water footprint

Hi Markus, how to calculate the water foot print for a industry? Is there some standard calculation procedure to be followed? I will appropriate if you can guide me in this. Thanks in advance.

1 Answer

1. Dear Tia, the standard calculation procedure is described in detail in the Water Footprint Assessment Manual by Hoekstra et al., 2011 ( available for download at http://www.waterfootprint.org/?page=files/WaterFootprintAssessmentManual). For the case you describe I would like to point you in particular to the following sections: - Figure 3.2 shows the coherence between different water footprint accounts, all starting with the process water footprints - the determination of product water footprints is described in section 3.4, which is most likely essential for your work - how to determine the water footprint of a business is explained in section 3.10 - but to start out with the section on the four phases of water footprint assessment should be visited (section 1.3). Start out with setting the goals and the scope of your assessment, then move on to the water footprint accounting phase, once this is completed, carry out the sustainability assessment and based on your work in the previous phases develop response strategies. There are a number of publications that may be useful for you to consult in addition to the Water Footprint Assessment Manual. One of them is Ercin, A.E., Aldaya, M.M. and Hoekstra, A.Y. (2011) Corporate water footprint accounting and impact assessment: The case of the water footprint of a sugar-containing carbonated beverage, Water Resources Management, 25(2): 721-741. available at: http://www.waterfootprint.org/Reports/Ercin-et-al-2011-CorporateWaterFootprint-Softdrink.pdf Other references can be found here: http://www.waterfootprint.org/?page=files/Publications Reference: Hoekstra, A.Y., Chapagain, A.K., Aldaya, M.M. and Mekonnen, M.M. (2011) The water footprint assessment manual: Setting the global standard, Earthscan, London, UK. Hope this helps. Best, Markus