Reducing your carbon footprint is something (I hope) that we have all been doing, or at least, cognisant of the benefits of doing so, and its place in helping combat climate change.
What is less well-known, and increasing in importance, is the concept of the water footprint; specifically how humanity (us), uses this essential resource and how sustainable our use is. Pioneered by Arjen Hoeksta (Professor in Multidisciplinary Water Management at the University of Twente in the Netherlands), the water footprint sets out to quantify the level of relative consumption of water between one commodity and another. The key point is that the information produced can be used by companies (to target process efficiency savings), and the consumer to make more informed choices about what we buy.