Water Footprint Standards to be Established

Water Footprinting is an issue that will become more important during the time. Especially as it is not overly clear what really should be measured. What is the real direct and indirect use of water in a production and user process?

During the conference from 5th to 7th May 2009 in Brussels, organised bij E-N-G, managers in water from various disciplines discussed aspects of blue, green and grey water. Which stands for water that is from agricultural source, water that is used in a process and water that is needed to re-establish the state of water for re-use.

On 6th May, the discussion partly focussed on one issue - standards. As ISO already is creating a water footprinting standard, the delegates were not sure of this is a bit too early. They want to prevent the situation of the carbon footprint, where different standards are being used and the only issue seems to be 'reduce, reduce'. Waterfootprints should be better comparable, also because there is a bigger impact through various production cycles and companies.

Also the delegates felt a need for comparison and basic figures as there is a lack of reference.  There will be more discussions about the issue, that is one thing that was clear at the end of the sessions.