Water Footprinting in the Urban Water Sector

The term 'Water Footprinting' can be used to describe an emerging set of tools that can be applied to obtain information about the consumption and degradation of fresh water over a defined period of time. The impact that the consumption and degradation of fresh water resources has on the environment and society can be assessed using a number of tools. Water Footprinting tools have predominantly been applied within the agricultural and industrial sectors. The approaches are being increasingly utilised, in particular by corporations in the food and beverage industries. Limited applications involving the urban water system are evident to date.   

Water Footprinting in the Urban Water Sector provides: 

•  An overview of the Urban Water Sector through a summary of the trends and challenges facing the sector and some information concerning the variations in the sector across the globe 
• A summary of the urban water system by defining the possible scope, boundaries, flows and impacts
• An overview of a number of common approaches and their development with summaries of example applications a research strategy that contains a map of knowledge, a summary of key issues, challenges and knowledge gaps, suggested research priorities and some suggested actions