Water footprint as an environmental tool

Water footprint as an environmental tool. Water footprint is one of the newest calculation tools to assess sustainability of products and services. Led by the environmental NGOs and academics, interest in water footprint is growing fast but the methodology for forestry, industrial or agricultural processes is still open. Water footprint is a local indicator, dependent on water scarcity and dilution conditions. Water footprint defines the sum of the water use used in the various steps of the production chain, including direct and indirect water use. There are several approaches for methodology development. But the definitions and guidelines for data collection and calculations need still further work. ISO Standardization is about to begin early summer 2011