How big is your water footprint? You may be surprised
http://www.eco-business.com/news/how-big-your-water-footprint-you-may-be-surprised/
http://www.eco-business.com/news/how-big-your-water-footprint-you-may-be-surprised/
Ruth Matthews
25 August 2014
Jovana Curcic
This article talks about one of the most important themes concerning all the living parts of our planet-water deficiency problems. To be honest, this was the first time I read about water footprints. A few years ago, I heard of the ecological footprint, or more precisely the carbon footprint, meaning the negative impact of people's activities and energy use on the Earth, but I don’t quite remember much about it. (This is why I think that this course is really necessary for many of us). Anyways, the water footprint was something I read about for the first time, and it made me think about a variety of aspects concerning our everyday lives.
What is the water footprint? According to Ruth Mathews, director of the Water Footprint Network, the water footprint is “the impact of our activities on freshwater resources”. In other words, everything that we do has some impact on freshwater. For example, a cup of morning coffee requires 140 l of fresh water (for beans to grow), or one pair of jeans which is approximately one kilogram of cotton requires even 10,000 l fresh water!!! And the most endangered are the producers of resources, which are often the poor countries such as Columbia and India. According to the article, the average consumption of a person in the UK is about 150 l of water per day, but this number rises to more than 4,500 litres per day, when all the water hidden in the water footprint is calculated. Some other examples are seen in the picture below.
So, why do we even need water and why bother about the water footprints that we leave behind? The demand for freshwater is growing rapidly around the world specifically because of all the species around, climate change and irresponsible resource use. If we know that almost 750 million people worldwide do not have access to clean water at all, we should be aware of our consumption, and introduce water footprint in our decisions and choices.
Since we depend so much on water, we overuse it with the things we do in our everyday lives; for example making coffee in the morning and buying a new pair of jeans. Not only are we wasting it, but we’re also causing harm to the environment. So, each of us should be aware about water consumption and be a responsible consumer. We pollute water all around the world, and this usually leaves the rivers running dry and the species being endangered because of the contaminated water. What can we do to reduce water pollution? We should minimize the use of pesticides, herbicides, and fertilizers, and we should NOT dispose of these chemicals,motor oil, or other fluids into the sanitary sewer system. We should use a minimum amount of detergent/bleach when washing out clothes. We should avoid using garbage disposal, keep solid wastes solid, etc. We shouldn’t throw litter into rivers, lakes, or oceans (These were some ideas that I read from a different article).
It is incredible how unaware of the surroundings we really are, and the amount of attention we give to the environment is extremely limited! Reading this article, I found myself thinking about many different aspects of this topic, and the question that came up in my head made me worry about the future- what if we lose all the water that we have one day? What would be with the existence of many future generations and what should we do to do to fix this problem? I think that for the beginning, each of us should start from his/her own closet and ask himself: “Do I really need so many T shirts?”
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This is very interesting, the water foot print is jet to develop, this can be something that can be used in the future, this is a great topic, and i enjoy reading it.
ReplyDeleteJovana, you bring up several very good points and questions in your reflection about this article. Like you, I had never heard about the water footprint, only the carbon or ecological footprint which is based on all of the impacts we have on the environment according to our lifestyle. This article takes only one aspect of the ecological footprint which is probably one of the most understudied footprint, the water footprint. How much is left? Only 1% of the Earth's water supply is usable by us...the rest? Oceans and polluted waters, as well as what is locked up in the glaciers and polar regions in ice sheets.
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