Dive In Deep: A Review of Water Footprint Calculator
Technology has made it easy, in the modern age, to distance ourselves from the reality of our consumption and waste. It adds layers and layers to the consumer’s experience, often alienating them from the origin of the experience. These same tools, however, can be used to educate and innovate. Grace Communications Foundation, famous for their Meatless Monday campaign, has done just that with their Water Footprint Calculator. The website acts as both a tool, and a helpful portal to the wider world of water usage. providing accurate information and helpful outside links.
The site is broken into distinct sections — the calculator itself, educational pages, and Water News.
The calculator is a helpful tool for estimating your, and your households, water use. By asking a series of consumption-related questions, the Water Footprint Calculator estimates your daily water usage. The assessment is broken into two parts; the calculator assesses your direct water usage and your ‘virtual’ usage, which is water consumed in food production, travel, or other indirect means.
When I calculated my water usage, my household came in slightly below average, and I was given an itemized list of my water consumption according to what I had reported, and several useful links, both for reducing rater consumption and for the calculator’s methodology..
. The whole experience was easy to navigate and I felt that I learned something about how water is used in production. The visuals used on the site aided in delivering the message, the itemized breakdown was easily explored, and the information was transparent.
On Water Footprint Calculator Methodology, they state, readily, “The data is the latest available at the time of creation of the calculator. In some cases, data came from studies that evaluated personal water use based on individual behaviors. In other cases, national data was used to create statistical averages that allowed for calculation of individual water use.”
Though no individual studies are linked, the authors are up front about the pitfalls of this sort of data, readily listing the assumptions researchers must make to implement the tool.
Of their tool they say, “The research pointed out that there is a lack of consistent, high-quality water use data collected in this country; results should be viewed with this in mind.” Released in 2017, this lack of data related to nationwide water consumption has not substantially improved since the time of Water Footprint Calculator’s launch. However, this information can be considered both relevant and timely in the world of water usage.
Many of the site’s articles, education- or news-oriented, tend towards reviews or summaries of relevant articles or studies.
Take ‘Estimating the Water Footprint of Different Electricity Generation Methods’ which summarizes the points of a 2013 evaluation of water usage in power generation, wherein Meldrum et al. found that;
… water used for cooling of thermoelectric power plants dominates the life cycle water use in most cases; the coal, natural gas, and nuclear fuel cycles require substantial water per megawatt-hour in most cases; and, a substantial proportion of life cycle water use per megawatt-hour is required for the manufacturing and construction of concentrating solar, geothermal, photovoltaic, and wind power facilities. (Meldrum)
The article stays true to the findings of the report, and makes the information more palatable. The retrospective makes modern and pressing an older data set, and thus makes relevant the study’s findings.
In ‘Food’s Big Water Footprint’, citations include the USDA’s section on Irrigation and Water Use, and the international non-profit, The Water Footprint Network, as well as FoodPrint, another Grace Communications education platform. The agonizingly-titled ‘Glaciers are Retreating. Millions Rely on Their Water’ is cross-posted from a New York Times feature. By choose reputable, trustworthy sources, Water Footprint Calculator showcases a wide variety of reputable sources, if swaying somewhat to a conservationist bias.
Indeed, while Water Footprint Calculator strives to be a hub of learning, it cannot help but sway somewhat to the side of environmental awareness and conservationism. Nary a libertarian think tank nor pro-fracking platform will be linked from this site, but the information provided is relevant, informed, credible, and has the explicit intent of being accurate.
Grace Communications Foundation, which stands atop this — and many other — websites with eco-awareness at the forefront, is the entity taking responsibility and ownership for the posted content. Better known for FoodPrint, Grace Communications has launched over a dozen campaigns and philanthropic programs, with focuses on food and water sustainability, as well as algal blooms. They operate internationally, and provide thematic news through their myriad of themed outlets, such as FoodPrint’s food sustainability news.
Their philanthropic works have earned them positive write-ups in Philanthropy News Digest and New York City’s Hunter College Food Policy Center. They are commended for their local and nationwide education campaigns and projects.
If one is looking to pursue sustainability news, the portals created by Grace Communications Foundation are a helpful jumping off point for greater scholarly exploration. The information provided is well-sourced, the summaries and descriptions are helpful and to-the-point, and the calculator itself is a wonderful tool for the lay consumer.
J Meldrum et al 2013 Environ. Res. Lett. 8 015031
Water Footprint Calculator, GRACE Communications Foundation, www.watercalculator.org/.
