Your water footprint is the total amount of water used directly and indirectly to support your daily life and consumption. It includes water used for food, goods, energy, and activities. Most of your water footprint comes from indirect usage and is considered "virtual water." Water footprints can be calculated for individuals, households, businesses, and entire countries to assess water usage. They are important because freshwater resources are under pressure from growing populations and climate change, and water footprints reveal how to more efficiently use this vital resource. Water footprints are broken into blue, green, and grey categories depending on the source and quality of the water.

1. WATER FOOTPRINT

2. What is a Water Footprint?
• Your water footprint is the amount of water you use in and
around your home, school or office throughout the day. It
includes the water you use directly (e.g., from a tap). It also
includes the water you use indirectly – this is the water it took
to produce the food you eat, the products you buy, the energy
you consume and even the water you save when you recycle.

3. • You may not drink, feel or see this virtual water, but it
makes up the majority of your water footprint. If you
examine your lifestyle you can evaluate your water
footprint using data that is based on average water use.
In fact, water footprints can be calculated for individuals,
households, businesses and countries.

4. Why Do Water Footprints Matter?
• Freshwater (non-saline water) is an important and vital
resource to ecological and human life, yet as human populations
and prosperity grow, so too does our use of freshwater. This is
complicated by climate change and the likelihood of a changing
water cycle that has already led to periods of "drought and
deluge." Water is already scarce in parts of the United States
and the rest of world, and a changing water cycle could
further constrain our water supplies.

5. • Water footprints help reveal the amount of water being used at
an individual level all the way to a national level and in the
numerous processes involved in manufacturing and production of
our goods and services. An accurate water footprint also takes
into account the amount of water contaminated during
manufacturing and production because that water is essentially
made unusable and, therefore, taken out of the system. While
there can never be a perfect water use assessment or audit
tool, the water footprint gives everyone – from individual
consumers to business managers to public officials – a solid
water accounting framework and aids us all in our efforts to be
more efficient and conservative with our water use.

6. What Makes a Blue, Green or Grey Water Footprint?
• Blue Water Footprint: Refers to the volume of surface water and
ground water consumed (i.e. evaporated or incorporated into the
product) during production processes;
• Green Water Footprint: Refers to the volume of rainwater
consumed (i.e. evaporated or incorporated into the product) by
the product; and
• Grey Water Footprint: Refers to the amount of freshwater
required to mix pollutants and maintain water quality
according to agreed water quality standards.