An investigation of water usage which combines infographics with a narrative detailing the typical volume of water necessary for common applications, from creating fuel to flushing the toilet.

People use lots of water for drinking, cooking and washing, but significantly more for producing things such as food, paper and cotton clothes. The water footprint is an indicator of water use that looks at both direct and indirect water use of a consumer or producer. Indirect use refers to the 'virtual water' embedded in tradable goods and commodities, such as cereals, sugar or cotton. The water footprint of an individual, community or business is defined as the total volume of freshwater that is used to produce the goods and services consumed by the individual or community or produced by the business. This book offers a complete and up-to-date overview of the global standard on water footprint assessment as developed by the Water Footprint Network. More specifically it: o Provides a comprehensive set of methods for water footprint assessment o Shows how water footprints can be calculated for individual processes and products, as well as for consumers, nations and businesses o Contains detailed worked examples of how to calculate green, blue and grey water footprints o Describes how to assess the sustainability of the aggregated water footprint within a river basin or the water footprint of a specific product o Includes an extensive library of possible measures that can contribute to water footprint reduction

What sort of footprint are you leaving on the environment? Do you have a heavy footprint or a light footprint? Everything we do and everything we use has an impact on the environment. Heavy footprints harm the environment and use lots of natural resources. Light footprints harm the environment as little as possible and use fewer natural resources. Read the Environmental Footprints series to decide what type of footsteps you want to take in the future! In How Big Is Your Water Footprint? read about what makes up a travel footprint and the effect this has on the environment. Discover ways to reduce your travel footprint and live sustainably. Special Features Rethink! feature offer ways to lighten your footprints Case studies give real-life examples of heavy-footprint and light-footprint actions. Book jacket.

This book highlights the concept of water footprint in different industrial sectors such as leather tanning, steel, agriculture, textile and wine. One of the very basic necessities of life which is soon going to be scarce is water, hence the environmental footprint assessments on any scale essentially includes water footprint which is being measured in various supply chains and across different product categories. According to ISO 14046, the water footprint assessment refers to the total freshwater volume consumed and polluted directly or indirectly across a product’s end-to-end supply chain. This book presents, for industry purposes, the focus on identification and quantification of water trade, the scarcity, and pollution involved in the production of goods and services.

This book pursues a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach in order to analyze the relationship between water and food security. It demonstrates that most of the world’s economies lack sufficient water resources to secure their populations’ food requirements and are thus virtual importers of water. One of the most inspiring cases, which this book is rooted in, is Italy: the third largest net virtual water importer on earth. The book also shows that the sustainability of water depends on the extent to which societies recognize and take into account its value and contribution to agricultural production. Due to the large volumes of water required for food production, water and food security are in fact inextricably linked. Contributions from leading international experts and scholars in the field use the concepts of virtual water and water footprints to explain this relationship, with an eye to the empirical examples of wine, tomato and pasta production in Italy. This book provides a valuable resource for all researchers, professionals, policymakers and everyone else interested in water and food security.

1.1 General Framework In most arid and semi-arid countries, water resource management is an issue that is both important and controversial. Most water resources experts now acknowledge that water conflicts are not caused by physical scarcity but are mainly due to poor water management (Rosegrant et al. 2002; Benoit and Comeau 2005; Comprehensive Assessment of Water Management in Agriculture 2007; Garrido and Dinar 2010, among others). The scientific and technological advances of the past 50 years have led to new ways to solve many water-related conflicts, often with tools that seemed unthinkable a few decades ago (Llamas 2005; Lopez-Gunn and Llamas 2008). This study deals with the estimation and analysis of Spain’s water footprint, both from a hydrological and economic perspective. Its ultimate objective is to report on the allocative efficiency of water and economic resources. This analysis can provide a transparent and multidisciplinary framework for informing and optimising water policy decisions, contributing at the same time to the implementation of the EU Water Framework Directive (WFD) (2000/60/EC). It also responds to the current mandate of the Spanish Ministry of Environment and Rural and Marine Affairs, which recently issued instructions for drafting river basin management plans in compliance with the EU Water Framework Directive, with a deadline of end of year 2009 and then every 6 years (BOE 2008).

Food and Sustainability is the first text on this topic to consistently and coherently bring together important concepts from different disciplines to introduce students to a common challenge: food sustainability. The book explores the issues related to our growing demand for food from the perspectives of disciplines ranging from environmental and social sciences, to public health. It examines food as a point of convergence across these disciplines, illustrating the need for a transdisciplinary approach to understand common challenges and opportunities in food systems. The issues discussed are exemplified in several case studies for each chapter, which provide a direct avenue for students to apply the principles and theories set out in each chapter to real-world problems. In addition, 'Food controversy' panels highlight how there is very often no one right answer to the problems being faced, and how different viewpoints and perspectives need to be weighed up alongside each other to come to workable resolutions. Online resources: Food sustainability is augmented by a range of online resources, which include: For students: DT Hyperlinks to extended research readings DT Practice quizzes to support independent study DT Answers to in-text questions. For instructors: DT Downloadable (PowerPoint) figures from the book DT Answer sheets to the end of chapter questions DT Suggested exam questions.