What is a water footprint?
According to ISO 14046, a water footprint is the “compilation and evaluation of the inputs, outputs and the potential environmental impacts related to water used or affected by a product, process or organization”.
There are 2 distinct types of water footprints: a water footprint that requires a qualifier and a comprehensive water footprint profile. A water footprint that requires a qualifier focuses on only one or a limited set of water-related indicators. For example, if your water footprint only uses a water scarcity indicator, then you would be creating a water scarcity footprint.
A comprehensive water footprint profile–which is what Trayak offers–utilizes a comprehensive set of indicators that address both water availability and water quality. Our approach incorporates 7 indicators, with 4 degradation indicators to track water quality, 1 scarcity indicator to account for availability, and 2 indicators to track water use and consumption, as well as satisfy the requirement for the inclusion of a water inventory.
What does a water footprint measure?
This depends on the goal of your footprint and the indicators you choose to achieve it. At Trayak, we use 7 different indicators to fulfill the requirements of a comprehensive water footprint, which gives you a holistic view of your water-related impacts. From the Environmental Footprint method, we are using Water Use (scarcity), Freshwater Eutrophication, Marine Eutrophication, and Freshwater Ecotoxicity. From Impact World+ we have Thermal Pollution, and then we also include a water inventory, with Water Inventory Use and Water Inventory Consumption.
Some of the questions that these indicators can answer include:
How much water is being used, and how much is used in the context of water availability in the relevant region?
What are you doing to that water?
What is happening to the quality of the water as a result?
Why should I do an ISO 14046-compliant Water Footprint?
Water footprints that follow ISO 14046 can be used to help standardize reporting, allowing you to report consistently and make those results comparable to other ISO-compliant water footprints, as well as help you fulfill water-related reporting requirements for ESG and CSRD.
Beyond required reporting, the water footprint method from ISO 14046 can be used to complete comprehensive evaluations of water-related impacts for internal decision making and hotspot identification, and a subsequent third party review can allow for those results to be published and used to make comparative assertions.
What makes a water footprint different from other footprint methodologies like the Environmental Footprint method or Product Carbon Footprint?
At a basic level, the Environmental Footprint method is a broader methodology consisting of 16 indicators, with consideration for carbon, water use, resource use, and degradation indicators for land as well as water. In contrast, PCF is a more comprehensive view of your carbon-related impact, breaking your total GWP value into those from fossil fuels, biogenic emissions, biogenic removals, land use, and aircraft.
Water footprint would be more similar to PCF, in that we narrow the focus down to water-related impacts only. But rather than breaking 1 indicator into subimpacts, we’ve compiled a group of indicators that allow you to take a holistic view of your water-related impacts, from use to scarcity to degradation.
Can I run a water footprint myself?
Like any other LCA, this is going to depend on how you plan to use the results. If you’re running an analysis or comparison in order to make internal decisions, then yes, you can use the water footprint method in your COMPASS license like you would any other method.
However, if you want to publish these results, and especially if you want to make comparative claims, you will need a third party review. Trayak’s consulting team will guide you through this process – including the data collection, supplemental report creation, and official review — to ensure everything is credible and compliant.