Water – the challenge of the 21st century

The water footprint of humanity has exceeded sustainable levels at several places and is unequally distributed among people. Water footprint reduction and miti­gation of its impacts encompass a shared responsibility between consumers, pro­ducers, investors and governments. Good information about water footprints of communities and businesses is required in order to understand how we can formulate adequate response strategies pointing towards a more sustainable and equitable use of fresh water. 

Water scarcity is often the result of inadequate attention to freshwater when investing in agriculture or expanding cities or industries. 

Integration of freshwater considerations is essential in nearly all decisions made in daily life. As consumers we make decisions on what we consume, which indirectly affect our water footprint. As workers for private or governmental organisations we make decisions on public and private investments, on where materials are sourced from and on agricultural, urban and energy policies. 

The accumulation of all these decisions has brought us in the position we face today: too many places that face severe freshwater scarcity and pollution, where rivers run dry, groundwater tables and lake levels decline and aquatic life is threat­ened by damming of rivers and by pollution. Often this is invisible to us as consumers, because as a result of global trade of both agricultural and industrial goods, we have no longer any idea about the natural resource use and environmental impacts associated with the products we consume.

Many of us are spatially disconnected from the processes necessary to produce the products we consume. Good water governance is not a simple matter of ­managing our waters better; it is about integrating considerations of freshwater scarcity in everyday life decisions in all sectors of society.