Lynette Dollar, Principal Sustainability Consultant at MWH, now part of Stantec
A new water footprinting approach, ISO 14046, is being tested by MWH, now part of Stantec, Anglian Water, and Water Research Foundation. Lynette Dollar, Principal Sustainability Consultant at MWH reviews the effects and benefits of the new approach and evaluates whether it can be used to assess the impact of planned water measures at a catchment level.
History shows that different drivers and pressures on planning, investment, and funding cycles within a catchment or region can result in solutions that solve one problem but create others. In response to economic reform, many water companies in the United Kingdom (UK) are moving from asset management companies to focusing on achieving the right catchment outcomes.
A water footprint assessment quantifies the impact of potential investment measures on water quantity and quality in a catchment. Analogous to carbon footprinting, it considers the impacts of all fixed assets (analogous to embodied carbon) and operational aspects of a measure (analogous to operational carbon) on water resources.
With its focus on assessing the impacts of potential investments, water footprinting supports the development of solutions that ultimately have long-lasting benefits.
Read the online article published by World Water here.
Read the latest edition of World Water here.
