Whole Health: Another Footprint

ROBERT VOSBURGH

They can't be seen, but water footprints are everywhere.

That's the message conservationists are conveying to individual homeowners and the largest global companies alike, as water use joins other environmental protection efforts.

“People are beginning to realize it's all related,” said Kai Olson-Sawyer, program manager of H₂O Conserve, one of several organizations working to get more people thinking about this liquid natural resource. “Water, food and energy are all inextricably linked. The impact of one has an impact on the other.”

Overall, the United States is becoming more sensitive to water issues. According to The Freedonia Group, companies consumed about 13 gallons of water per dollar of GDP in 2007, down from more than 16 gallons in 1997.

GreenBiz.com's annual “State of Green Business” report notes, “In 2008, Coca-Cola, Anheuser-Busch and Nestlé Waters North America all announced goals to cut the water intensity of their product lines in the coming years.”

Retailers can now include themselves in that group. In July, Wal-Mart Stores said it would start asking top-tier suppliers to report on a variety of environmental parameters related to the manufacturing of goods, including greenhouse gas emissions, solid waste production, water consumption and production ethics. The chain's sustainable product index will establish a single source of data for evaluating the greenness of products, according to Chief Executive Officer Mike Duke.

“It is not our goal to create or own this index,” he said. “We think this shared database will generate opportunities to be more innovative and to improve the sustainability of products and processes.”

For supermarkets looking to reduce their water usage, it's easiest to start with the tangible. Olson-Sawyer recommends searching out leaks, replacing large-tank toilets and updating misting systems and other obvious water hogs.

“Then there's the indirect water use that's embedded in the products and processes in the supply chain,” he continued. “And indirect water use is by far the biggest component of the water footprint.”

Indirect water footprints can be found in everything from the cardboard used in cereal boxes to the diesel engines of semis used to get the cereal from the warehouse to the store. That the water use is deeply buried within the manufacturing or transportation process does not lessen the effect it has on resource depletion — or the responsibility of businesses to conserve, Olson-Sawyer said.

H₂O Conserve's website includes a simple calculator that can be used to determine individual water usage. Specialized engineering firms, conservation organizations and manufacturers themselves might be more appropriate resources for retailers looking to lessen their use of water. An international effort, the Water Footprint Network, has a shared website that includes a number of links helpful to U.S.-based businesses.