1 / 22

Understanding Virtual Water: Global Implications and Consumer Impact

Explore the concept of virtual water, the water embodied in products, and its global trade implications. Learn about Water Footprint, its components, spatial dimension, and examples. Understand national water footprints, water dependency of nations, and strategies for reducing water footprints from a consumer perspective.

jessied
Download Presentation

Understanding Virtual Water: Global Implications and Consumer Impact

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. The concept of ‘virtual water’ Virtual water is the water ‘embodied’ in a product, not in real sense, but in virtual sense. It refers to the water needed for the production of the product. Global trade in goods and services brings along global trade in ‘virtual water’

  2. ► The Water Footprint of a product is the volume of fresh water used to produce the product, summed over the various steps of the production chain.

  3. ► The Water Footprint of a product is the same as its ‘virtual water content’, but includes a temporal and spatial dimension: when and where was the water used.

  4. ► The Water Footprint consists of three components:BLUE wf + GREEN wf + GREY wf

  5. ► Assessing the Water Footprint of a product requires analysis of the full production chain.

  6. Production chain cotton

  7. 2500 litres of water for 1 cotton shirt

  8. The water footprint of products global averages [Hoekstra & Chapagain, 2008]

  9. 40 litres of water for 1 slice of bread

  10. 1500 litres of water per kg refined sugar

  11. 1 egg = 135 litres water

  12. = 140 litres of water

  13. 2400 litres of water for 100 gram of chocolate

  14. 10 litres of water for 1 sheet of A4-paper

  15. ► The Water Footprint is spatially explicit. Examples for coffee and cotton.

  16. Water footprint of Dutch coffee consumption [Hoekstra & Chapagain, 2008]

  17. Water footprint of EU’s cotton consumption blue water + green water + gray water [Hoekstra & Chapagain, 2008]

  18. ► The Water Footprint of a nation is the total amount of water that is used to produce the goods and services consumed by the inhabitants of the nation.

  19. ► National Water Footprint= national water use + virtual water import • – virtual water export

  20. Water footprint per capita [Hoekstra & Chapagain, 2008]

  21. Water dependency of nations Many countries have net import of water in virtual form and a significant external water footprint:: • most of Europe • North Africa • Middle East • Japan • Mexico

  22. Consumer perspective Reduction of the direct water footprint: • water saving toilet, shower-head, etc. Reduction of the indirect water footprint: • substitution of a consumer product that has a large water footprint by a different type of product that has a smaller water footprint; • substitution of a consumer product that has a large water footprint by the same product that is derived from another source with smaller water footprint. Ask product transparency from businesses and regulation from governments

More Related