Human activities such as factory farming and manufacturing consume tremendous amounts of water and are closely tied to global water shortages and water pollution.

Welcome, eco-conscious viewers, to Planet Earth: Our Loving Home. Today’s program explores the amount of water used by humankind and the global initiative known as the Water Footprint Network, whose mission is to enhance public awareness of how product consumption impacts global water levels, and to promote sustainable, fair and efficient use of freshwater around the world.

The Network consists of leading academic institutions, government agencies, corporations and non-governmental organizations from many nations. Dr. Arjen Hoekstra is a professor of multidisciplinary water management at the University of Twente in the Netherlands and the Scientific Director of the Water Footprint Network.

He also is the co-author of “Globalization of Water: Sharing the Planet’s Freshwater Resources,” which examines water as a global resource and deals with issues such as sustainable use and water consumption patterns among nations.

Dr. Hoekstra recently spoke with one of our Supreme Master Television correspondents and provided more details about the Water Footprint Network and its important work.


SupremeMasterTV: Could you explain to us in brief what the concept of “water footprint” entails?
Professor Arjen Hoekstra : Yes. The water footprint gives us an idea of how much water is needed to make a product, and not only about the amount of water that is needed to make a product in the factory such as, for example, a bottle of Coke (Coca-Cola), but also, for example, how much water is needed for the sugar
which is used in the Coke.

So, the water footprint indicates explicitly the direct water usage which you see in the factory, but also indirectly like, for example, what you need in agriculture to make the ingredients. So we look at the complete supply chain.

For more details on the Water Footprints Network,
please visit www.waterfootprint.org
"Globaliztion of Water" is available at wiley.com