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Water Footprint is an innovative concept that helps us understand how our day-to-day consumption decisions have far reaching impacts on precious freshwater resources.\u00a0 This concept helps us visualize and understand the many connections between our buying habits and our world\u2019s shrinking freshwater bodies.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n Developing a localised version of the internationally recognised concept of Water Footprint will help raise the public awareness of the many hidden connections between their consumption habits and distant freshwater bodies. \u00a0Informed by this new understanding, one can then take personal and collective actions to reduce the size of Water Footprint, and thus the extent of its impacts, to contribute to water sustainability goals.<\/span><\/p>\n <\/p>\n What is Water Footprint? [\/vc_column_text][vc_single_image image=”4299″ img_size=”large”][vc_column_text]Virtual water<\/strong> <\/p>\n Components of Water Footprint<\/strong><\/p>\n Water Footprint is a multidimensional indicator.\u00a0 In addition to presenting the virtual water content of a product, it also tells us the composition of a product\u2019s Water Footprint in regard to the types of water consumed in the production process, as well as the spatial and temporal dimensions of that consumption.<\/p>\n Water Footprint captures the total amount of water used up in the various stages of a production process of a commodity. The three components of Water Footprint \u2013 green, blue, and grey \u2013 delineate the source of water used. Green Water Footprint is water brought onto the production sites by rain and other types of precipitation, and consumed through evapotranspiration or becoming part of the plants. Blue Water Footprint refers to water sourced from surface water bodies, such as rivers and lakes as well as groundwater aquifers. For example, river water is extracted to irrigate farmlands. Grey Water Footprint is the amount of freshwater required to dilute pollution arising from the production process, and return water quality to ambient standards. Blue and Green Water Footprint are consumptive water use while Grey Water Footprint is an indicator of the degree of freshwater pollution. In a nutshell, Water Footprint is a volumetric measure of both water consumption and pollution.[\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”10px”][\/vc_column][vc_column][\/vc_column][vc_column][\/vc_column][\/vc_row][vc_row el_class=”control_center” css=”.vc_custom_1479884481576{padding-left: 40px !important;}”][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”3852″ img_size=”medium”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/4″][vc_single_image image=”3368″ alignment=”center”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text css=”.vc_custom_1488788300329{padding-bottom: 25px !important;}”]Green Water Footprint<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Amount of rainwater used up in the production process[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”3860″ img_size=”medium”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/4″][vc_single_image image=”3367″ alignment=”center”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text]Blue Water Footprint<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Amount of surface water and groundwater used up in the production process[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][vc_column width=”1\/3″][vc_single_image image=”3854″ img_size=”medium”][vc_row_inner][vc_column_inner width=”1\/4″][vc_single_image image=”3369″ alignment=”center”][\/vc_column_inner][vc_column_inner width=”3\/4″][vc_column_text]Grey Water Footprint<\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n Amount of freshwater needed to dilute pollution drained from the production process[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [vc_row][vc_column][rev_slider_vc alias=”inside-burger-video-slider”][vc_empty_space height=”20px”][vc_column_text] Background [\/vc_column_text][vc_empty_space height=”10px”][vc_column_text] Water Footprint is an innovative concept that helps us understand how our day-to-day consumption decisions have far reaching impacts on precious freshwater resources.\u00a0 This concept helps us visualize and understand the many connections between our buying habits and our world\u2019s shrinking freshwater bodies. Developing a localised version of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socsc.hku.hk\/jcwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3275"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socsc.hku.hk\/jcwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socsc.hku.hk\/jcwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socsc.hku.hk\/jcwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.socsc.hku.hk\/jcwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3275"}],"version-history":[{"count":55,"href":"https:\/\/www.socsc.hku.hk\/jcwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7694,"href":"https:\/\/www.socsc.hku.hk\/jcwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/3275\/revisions\/7694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.socsc.hku.hk\/jcwise\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\n<\/strong>Water Footprint is an indicator of water use.\u00a0 It measures both direct and indirect water use.\u00a0 Direct water use refers to the amount of water consumed directly by us on a daily basis.\u00a0 Indirect water use refers to water resources that have been used up in the production processes of the commodities we purchase and consume.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n
\nThe basic building block of Water Footprint is the concept of virtual water, which is the total amount of water used up to produce agricultural produce and other commodities.\u00a0 This water is said to be virtual \u2013 because it is used up in the various stages of the production process and is no longer contained in the final product. By revealing this \u201chidden\u201d water, the Water Footprint concept enhances our understanding of the many connections between our consumption habits and freshwater resources.<\/p>\n