What is you water footprint?

Water cuts are now routine. The bigger question is how much water we really need and how much we actually use. We can calculate the water footprint for each individual.

People use lots of water for drinking, cooking and washing, but even more for producing things such as food, paper and cotton clothes. The water footprint is an indicator of use that looks at both direct and indirect use of water by a consumer or producer. 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 business.

Experts on water issues are of the opinion that our water footprints measure much more than our actual needs. “It is expected that we should strive for optimal utilisation of water and reduction in generation of waste at the individual level as well as community level.

“It is necessary to see that in our day-to-day life how much water I use and there is potential to conserve it,” said Pradnya Thakur, director, Shashwat Eco Solution Foundation.

There are water footprint calculators available online, like www.waterfootprint.org, so that one can actually see how much water we consume and are responsible for wastage of water.

“Awareness about the water footprint of each individual is very important. Each one should know how much water we use or waste and unless this awareness catches the ears of each one, the coming generations will have to virtually live without water,” added Thakur.