Chalmers Conferences, LCM 2013

USING WATER FOOTPRINTING ON A REGULAR BASIS - PROBLEMS AND CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS FROM AN INDUSTRY PERSPECTIVE
Andreas Uihlein, Ellen Riise

Last modified: 2014-09-11

Abstract


Water footprinting is still in its infancy. So far, an accepted general
framework and various water footprint impact assessment methods have
been developed. SCA performed a case study to evaluate the usefulness and
applicability of water footprinting in industry. For water footprinting
becoming a useful tool for decision making there are several problems: data
is lacking and of poor quality. In addition, some impact assessment methods
are not operational yet. Different operational impact assessment methods
might lead to different conclusions because of different pathways or
endpoints modelled or different characterisation factors. On-going
improvements will solve some of those problems and will hopefully allow
to use water footprinting as a robust basis for decision making in industry.

Keywords


water footprint; water inventory; supply chain; product portfolio

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