Water footprint (WF)

The water footprint (WF) assessment method, refers to the volume of freshwater used for a consumer or producer for the entire supply chain. Therefore, this method is calculated in the volume of water per type of sources, but also the volume of water polluted per type of pollution, all of which are spatially and temporally specific (Arjen Y. Hoekstra et al., 2011).

Within this method there are 3 types of water footprints (Arjen Y. Hoekstra et al, 2011):

• Blue water footprint refers to the consumption of freshwater or groundwater along the supply chain of a product.
• Green water footprint refers to the consumption of rainwater that is temporarily stored in the soil or its surface.
• Gray water footprint refers to pollution and means the volume of freshwater that is needed to assimilate the load of pollutants.

Steps in water footprint assessment (Arjen Y. Hoekstra et al, 2011):

1. Location and quantification of the water footprint in space and time
2. Social, economic and ecological assessment
3. Response strategy