National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, India ISO 9001:2015 Ministry of Jal Shakti, Department of Water resources, River Development and Ganga Rejuvenation
Computation of Water Footprint Using Commonly Available Data
Water is used by people for drinking, cooking and washing, but even more for producing products such as clothes, food and paper. The continuous and sometimes indiscriminate use of water is more and more showing its consequences.
From both the public and private sectors different initiatives have been launched to prevent and to mitigate water scarcity,emphasizing the priority to move towards a water-efficient and water-saving economy.
Water Footprint (WF) is a useful indicators to deal with water scarcity from the perspective of consumption.
Take a water tour with us through your home, lawn, diet, energy, and consumer choices and try to cut your water footprint to help to restore freshwater ecosystems.
In the India, the electricity is produced by different sources including coal, nuclear, oil, natural gas, large hydropower facilities and/or renewable. Each source has a different water use associated with it. Renewable energy such as solar panels and wind turbines consume little or no water.
Source of house's electricity
from the electric power.
from renewable energy systems (like solar panel / wind turbine)
New houses are typically fitted with low-flow or water saving fixtures but many houses in India still have standard flow water fixtures. The use of these devices can save a lot of water.
The low-flow showerheads spray about 3 liters per minute, while standard one spray 5 liters.
The low-flow toilets need 5 liters per flush, while standard toilets need 12 liters per flush
The low-flow faucets flow 2 liters per minute, while standard faucets flow 5 liters per minute.
Every minute a person spends soaping, lathering, conditioning, shaving or just bathing, he drains 3 to 5 liters of water. By reducing bathing time a lot of water can be saved.
Time spent by the people in the house in the bathing each day
Every minute a person spends soaping, lathering, conditioning, shaving or just bathing, he drains 3 to 5 liters of water. By reducing bathing time a lot of water can be saved.
Time spent by the people in the house at the wash basin with running water
Turning off the water while brushing the teeth saves 7.5 to 19 liters of water each time. Letting the sink run while brushing allows liters of water per day to go down the drain.
Flushing the toilet each time after urinating? Every time flushing, allows 5 to 12 liters of water to go down the drain, so the use of a mug a few times a day saves thousands of liters of water per year.
Washing machines can use a lot of water if they aren’t used properly. A fully automatic washing machine uses about 150 liters of water per load, while a semi-automatic machine uses about 75 liters only.
Way of washing clothes
The number of times the people in the house do the laundry
Energy saving dishwashers use about 15 liters of water per load, and standard one use about 25 liters. Since hand washing generally uses about 45 liters of water, dishwashers can be huge water-savers. If we are eating out (or using disposable utensils), it also uses about 20 liters of water per person per day.
The lawn and pots for plants in the house also consume a lot of water. On average, it takes 1000 liters to water a 1,000 square feet lawn or garden and 1 liters for a pot with plant.
Swimming pools are huge consumers of water. The average-sized pool takes 72,000 liters of water to fill, and if it is not covered, an additional 4,000 liters of water per month can be lost due to evaporation.
If you have a swimming pool how much is its capacity?
Washing a car uses about 50 liters of water. Refining fuel also takes water. For every liter of fuel burnt, 4 to 10 liters of water is used. By washing the car less frequently water use can be reduced.
Besides just drinking water, we indirectly consume huge water to grow the plants and raise the animals we eat. A person’s diet has a significant impact on his water footprint as more water may be needed to produce some foods than others. Meat and dairy products are especially water-intensive. Since animals also eat plants and drink water, people who eat meat and dairy consume more virtual water than those who only eat vegetables and grains.
An easy way to reduce your water footprint is to simply eat less meat and dairy.
Dietary habits of the people in the house
You already stated there are 0 people in the house.
Dietary habits of the people in the house
Number of non-vegetarian (meat and dairy)
(The answers must add up to the number of people in the house)
Manufacturers use a lot of water to make the products. An average Indian can save over 38 liters of water per day by recycling plastic. Recycling 1 kg of paper, saves about 30 liters of water. Using plastic bottles consumes more water than expected. The plastic used to make the average 500 ml - 1 liter water bottle requires over 6 liters of water to produce.
It takes about 380 liters of water to grow and process 500 gm. of cotton, and the average Indian goes through about 15 kg of new cotton material each year.
Donation of or re-use old clothing, sheets, blankets and towels
A gray water system allows house to reuse water from sinks, showers and washing machines for watering trees and gardens outdoors and can save about 152 liters of water per person per day. A rain water harvesting system can collect 34 liters of water per day or more with heavy rainfall.
