AQUAPASS

www.aquapath-project.eu

My guide
on water footprint

This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication
reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use
which may be made of the information contained therein.
 After some days that you had a good score in Aquatest, you
can start becoming an “AquaProf”! Bring a friend to
Aquapath project aims at fostering citizens’ awareness Aquapath: tell your classmates, your friends, your family
(children - tomorrow’s citizens - and adults) regarding water everything you know about Water Footprint and write here
consumption in Europe. The objective is to educate their names.
Europeans citizens on responsible choices and actively (if you want to do it again tomorrow, use a pencil!)
promote mind-shifts in their communities.

I told the water footprint story to:

Seven partners from:
France, Germany, Italy, The Netherlands, Portugal and Spain.
NAME……………….……………… SIGNATURE…………...….

NAME……………….……………… SIGNATURE…………...….

NAME…………………….………… SIGNATURE…………...….

NAME……………….……………… SIGNATURE…………...….

NAME……………….……………… SIGNATURE…………...….

NAME…………………….………… SIGNATURE…………...….

NAME…………………….………… SIGNATURE…………...….

THANK YOU VERY MUCH

FOR LEARNING AND PLAYING WITH US!
Your AQUAPATH Friends
 AQUA TEST
Now you are a “Aquapath champion”! It’s time to check out your
achievements in reducing your Water Footprint and help other
doing the same!
If you did something properly you saved 3 drops! My photo
Check the list! (use a pencil so you can do it again tomorrow)

Today’s score = ………/18

DID I CLOSE THE TAP WHEN BRUSHING MY

TEETH?

DID I HAVE SHOWER OR BATH?

DID I EAT LOW WATER FOOTPRINT FOOD

TODAY?
NAME ……………………
DID I EAT EVERYTHING I HAD IN MY DISH?
SURNAME…………………
DID I SUGGEST AT HOME TO USE THE AGE………………………
DISHWASHER OR WASHING MACHINE ONLY
WHEN THEY WERE FULL? COUNTRY………………..

DID I TALK ABOUT WATER FOOTPRINT AND

WATER SAVING TO MY FRIENDS/FAMILY?

16 1
WATER FOOTPRINT Can you spot the water saving differences?
Find and circle the 12 differences between these two pictures. When
Everything you wear, eat and use has a Water Footprint. you are finished, colour the scene which shows the family that has
But, what is Water Footprint? elected to save water.

Water Footprint is the human appropriation of fresh

water for our direct consumption and for producing
goods, food, energy and everything else we need in
our life.

GREEN WATER FOOTPRINT: is the rain 13

incorporated by plants or evaporated.

BLUE WATER FOOTPRINT: is the consumption of

fresh water of lakes and rivers, or the one in the
ground.
GREY WATER FOOTPRINT: is the fresh water used
to assimilate the pollutants.

So, everybody has a Water Footprint

based on how much water we use at
home and on what we eat, wear and
use.

Let’s start our trip to discover your Water

Footprint!
2 15
 Aqua Fun WHERE IS WATER?
First of all we need to
understand where is
condensation water and how water
changes. Water never
stops: it moves in a
circle.
precipitation
evaporation

collection

Earth’s surface is about 70% water. That seems a lot, but

how much can humans actually use?
Probably less than you think!

97% Fresh water 1%

Salt water Most fresh 2% that is easily
(oceans) water is locked away
accessible is found
in places like ice caps
in lakes, ponds,
or underground
14 rivers and streams 3
 Direct and indirect water footprint
FRESH WATER
Also called “sweet water”. It is
the natural water on the Earth's
surface, glaciers, icebergs, bogs,
DIRECT INDIRECT ponds, lakes, rivers and streams,
WATER WATER and underground

FOOTPRINT FOOTPRINT
WATER YOU DIRECTLY USE WATER USED TO PRODUCE
(for drinking, washing, etc.) WHAT YOU EAT, WEAR, AND
USE IN YOUR DAILY LIFE
ACCESSIBLE WATER
Very small quantity of
Domestic consumption
fresh water usable by
• Washing
humans (not iced or
• Drinking
• Cooking below ground)
140 litres per day

Industrial products
• Paper
• Clothes WATER CONSUMPTION
• Electricity is the volume of freshwater used and
170 litres per day then evaporated or incorporated into
a product. It is the water that is no
longer available because it has
evaporated, been transpired by
Food plants or incorporated into products
3500 litres per day
4 13
 Aqua Glossary Water scarcity and pollution
So, we have a very low quantity of fresh water available on
WATER CYCLE the planet and it becomes less everyday. The reasons are:
The change and
movement of the Earth’s WE ARE MANY
water from liquid to vapor
to solid. The water cycle
is solar powered WE PRODUCE, CONSUME AND
EVAPORATION WASTE MANY GOODS
occurs when the
sun heats water up
and it becomes
WE POLLUTE WATER
vapor in the air
CONDENSATION
is the opposite of
evaporation; it occurs
when air cools and Water pollution is caused by
the vapor collects
into liquid form. • AGRICULTURE – to produce the food
we eat (pesticides and fertilisers)
PRECIPITATION
is condensation falling • INDUSTRY – to produce the goods we
onto land in the form of buy (like clothes, computers, etc.) and
rain, sleet, hail, snow, the services we use (like energy for
and mist. Only 10% of electricity and heating)
water evaporated falls
as precipitation.
• DOMESTIC – sewage from our
homes, like kitchen and toilet or
washing the car
12 5
 FOOD WATER FOOTPRINT TIPS TO REDUCE WATER FOOTPRINT
Now we know that everything we eat or drink has a Water
Footprint (direct and indirect).
CHOSE WHAT YOU EAT
125 litres 80 litres
1 apple 1 orange Vegetables give you more
Did you know that it takes 15000
litres of water to produce 1 calories per litre of water
50 litres kilogram of beef? spent in their production,
1 tomato
1260 litres • Instead of eating meat every then animal products
1 pizza Margherita Did you know that there
day, eat meat only twice a
160 litres 255 litres week are delicious veggie
1 slice • Instead of eating a 200 g beef burgers?
1 glass of milk
eat a 100 g one
318 litres 196 litres DON’T BUY THINGS YOU DON’T NEED
100 g cheese 1 egg

2400 litres 132 litres

1 beef hamburger 1 cup of coffee

Water footprint of a 0,5litre plastic bottle

of coke as produced in Dongen factory DON’T WASTE FOOD
(The Netherlands)
 0,44 litres of water content
 27,6 litres for sugar production
 5,3 litres for bottle production
 3 litres for other ingredients
TOTAL 36 litres
6 11
 TIPS TO REDUCE WATER FOOTPRINT PRODUCTS WATER FOOTPRINT

CLOSE THE TAP WHEN

SOAPING OR BRUSHING 910 litres
TEETH smart phone

CHOSE
SHOWER 18000 litres
polyester jacket
INSTEAD OF
BATH
10 litres
1 A4 sheet of paper

USE LOW FLOW TAPS 100 litres

5000 litres cotton t-shirt
leather shoes

START DISHWASHER AND 4200 litres

800 litres
WASHING MACHINE ONLY pair of jeans leather bag
WHEN THEY ARE FULL

10 7
 WATER - A GLOBAL RESOURCE
Water is a global resource.
But what does that mean?
It means that it is something we all share:
All people in the world and nature.

Access to clean water is a Ecosystems also depend on

human right! clean water and all living beings
survival is dependent on water
However, only one out of 10
people in the world have access
to safe drinking water

This means that we are all responsible for taking good care of water and not wasting it!
In the next pages we give you some tips on what you can do
9