Water footprint assessment to support sustainable water management

Many industries depend on freshwater for their production processes. Measuring freshwater consumption is important to understand the impact of a company’s core operations and to assess the effects across its value chain. What matters is not just the absolute volume of freshwater used, but also how this use influences factors such as water scarcity and water quality.

These aspects together define a water footprint, as outlined in the ISO 14046 standard. This standard provides a comprehensive framework for evaluating freshwater-related environmental impacts over the entire life cycle of a product or service. By applying water footprint assessments, companies, organisations, or governments can identify opportunities for reduction and optimisation to inform water management strategies.

• Quantify footprint of current operations or value chain to gain insight or report impact
• Identify water use or pollution hotspots to address with reduction measures or pollution mitigation
• Pre-empt heavy water use or withdrawal for new projects or investments

The ISO 14046 water footprint standard (“ISO 14046: Environmental management – water footprint – Principles, requirements and guidelines”) provides the principles, requirements and guidelines for calculating a water footprint for products or services. It is based on the general Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) ISO standard (ISO 14044), and it follows the same phases as for a full LCA:

• Goal and scope definition
• Water footprint inventory analysis
• Water footprint impact assessment
• Interpretation of the results

The water footprint is calculated from a life cycle perspective and takes into account all stages of the life cycle of a product, from raw material extraction until the end of life of the product. Therefore, the water footprint standard can be used as part of a full LCA or as a stand-alone assessment of water impacts. The water footprint standard also specifies the requirements for reporting and critical review to have an ISO 14046-compliant water footprint assessment.

To calculate a water footprint according to ISO 14046,  water data is collected for each life cycle stage and quantified into an environmental impact, such as eutrophication, acidification potential, aquatic ecotoxicity, and more. The data required includes, but is not limited to, quantities of water withdrawal and release, information on the type (e.g. groundwater, surface water) of water used, the geographical and temporal aspects (fluctuation and frequency) of water use, water quality parameters, and emissions to air, water and soil that impact water quality.

When a comprehensive water footprint is calculated, all relevant aspects of the natural environment, human health and resources that relate to water should be considered, including water scarcity, water availability and water degradation (loss of water quality). If a waterfootprint is calculated that does not consider all water-related impacts, the water footprint should be described as such by indicating which water-related environmental impacts have been assessed. Examples include “water scarcity footprint”, “water availability footprint”, “water eutrophication footprint”, “water ecotoxicity footprint”, “water acidification footprint” or “non-comprehensive water footprint”.

In the context of LCA, several water calculation methods have been developed. In these methodologies, quantities of water use and levels of pollution are converted to environmental impacts. For example, the impact on aquatic ecosystems in the form of acidification or eutrophication. The global increase of water scarcity has also promoted the development of methodologies designed to calculate water scarcity impacts. Witin LCA, the Available WAter REmaining (AWARE) methodology is currently widely used.

AWARE was developed as a consensus of LCA, hydrology and ecology experts by the WULCA group (Water Use in Life Cycle Assessment), to be able to calculate a water scarcity footprint according to ISO 14046. The calculation is implemented in several widely used LCA impact characterisation methodologies, including the Environmental Footprint (EF) methodology developed by the European Commission. This means that the different aspects of the water footprint assessment are included in LCA methodologies, such as the impact of water use on eutrophication and acidification, and the impact of water use on water scarcity.

Company water management calls for reliable and consistent information. This is where a water footprint assessment can support, by providing data-driven insight in water-related impacts of products, processes or services, from a life cycle perspective. Following the guidelines of the water footprint ISO14046 standard will ensure consistency in assessment and reporting of water footprints, as well as help to identify reduction measures and set out water management strategies.

Are you interested in a water footprint assessment? Ecomatters can help you. With our expertise in LCA, including water-related impacts, we can support you in calculating a water footprint.  Plan a call with one of our experts or get in touch using the contact form below to see how we can support you.