Your water footprint 
Understanding and acting on water challenges

Water is a vital resource, but it is already under pressure worldwide. Droughts, competing uses, and pollution make water availability a strategic factor that affects site location, production, and corporate reputation.

Anticipating these risks requires measuring your water footprint, understanding your dependencies and impacts, and taking action to reduce vulnerability. This is a key step to strengthen resilience, competitiveness, and regulatory compliance.

Why act on your organization’s water footprint?

Operational and financial risks

Organizations dependent on water face production interruptions during restrictions or droughts. These events lead to economic losses and higher operational costs.

Reputation and responsibility

Customers, investors, and partners expect companies to manage resources sustainably. Poor water performance can quickly harm your brand image and stakeholder relationships.

What is a water footprint?

A water footprint represents the total volume of water used, directly or indirectly, for a product, service, or organization throughout its lifecycle.

It has three components:

  • Green water – rainwater stored in the soil and used by vegetation.
  • Blue water – surface water from rivers, lakes, and groundwater.
  • Grey water – volume of water needed to dilute pollutants to meet environmental standards.

Geographical (water-stressed areas, local availability) and temporal (seasonality) specifics must also be considered.

Frameworks for water footprint assessment

ISO 14046 Provides an international methodology to:
  • Compile water consumption and pollution data.
  • Assess associated environmental impacts.
  • Offer standardized, comparable, and recognized evaluations.
AWARE (Available WAter REmaining) Widely adopted in Europe, AWARE allows organizations to:
  • Calculate remaining water availability after consumption.
  • Evaluate the impact of pollutants on ecosystems, human health, and future generations.

To go further, organizations can set science-based targets for water following the Science Based Targets for Nature (SBTN) guidelines.

Blooming consultants, recognized as Expert Advisors in the SBTN Referral Program, support organizations in defining SBTN water targets.

FAQ

It measures all volumes of water used directly and indirectly by an organization, including freshwater withdrawals, rainwater utilization, and water needed to dilute pollutants.
The levers include optimizing industrial processes, reusing wastewater, technological innovation, and local resource partnerships. Each action must be tailored to your specific geographic and sectoral context.
Yes, and not only that. Companies subject to the CSRD’s ESRS E3 standard must produce the following quantifiable data:
  • total water consumption;
  • total water consumption in water-risk areas, including areas of high water stress;
  • total water withdrawals;
  • total water discharges;
  • total volume of water recycled or reused; and
  • total volume of water stored.

Your water footprint should be viewed together with your carbon and biodiversity footprints. Combined, they provide a complete assessment of your impacts and dependencies.

Integrating water footprint with carbon and biodiversity assessments gives a holistic view of your value chain impacts and identifies levers to act effectively and consistently across all nature-related challenges.

Ready to understand your water footprint and take concrete action?

Contact a Blooming expert to conduct your water footprint assessment.
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