THE WATER FOOTPRINT IN CONTEXT OF CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Fresh water is the most used natural resource among the products we consume daily. Everything we eat or buy contains. But do we know how much water is needed to produce these goods? The concept of water footprint can help us find the answer to this question. Researcher at the University of Twente (Netherlands), Arjen Hoekstra, developed this concept in 2002. His goal was to show the impact on the amount of water that products in our lives contains. For a single product, the water footprint means the amount of water consumed and/or polluted at all stages of its production. It is measured in units of volume giving us an idea of the impact that a particular item has on the use of fresh water. Therefore, it takes into account the water used directly in production and the indirect part used in raw materials. The water footprint assessment method represents the volume of drinking water used either by a consumer or by a producer throughout the supply chain. By using this method, the volume of water is calculated by type of source, as well as the amount of water polluted, depending on the type of pollution, all these elements being specified spatially and temporally. The total water footprint of a product consists of three components: blue, green and gray water footprint. Assessing the water footprint of products and services is a good step towards evaluation of water circularity. The water footprint assessment must be integrated into the concepts of the circular economy by insisting on what happens to water after use and how circular and sustainable it is.