Archive for July 22, 2011
- The water footprint of an individual, business or nation is defined as the total volume of freshwater that is used to produce the foods and services consumed by the individual, business or nation. A water footprint is generally expressed in terms of the volume of water use per year.
- Since not all goods consumed in one particular country are produced in that country, the water footprint consists of two parts: use of domestic water resources and use of water outside the borders of the country. The water footprint includes both the water withdrawn from surface and groundwater and the use of soil water (in agricultural production).
- Virtual water is the water ’embedded’ in commodities. Producing goods and services requires water; the water used to produce agricultural or industrial products is called the virtual water of the product.
- The global volume of virtual water flows related to the international trade in commodities is 1,600 Km³/yr.
- About 80% of these virtual water flows relate to the trade in agricultural products, while the remainder is related to industrial product trade. Read more
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