KOMPAS.com - How much water is needed to serve a cup of coffee? Some of you might be easily answered, "Certainly one cup." But, based on the Water Footprint, the average amount of water needed to serve a cup of coffee is 140 liters.
How come? Water Footprint calculates not only the water used to brew coffee, but also the total water needed to grow and maintain coffee, harvest, and process until the beans are ready to be milled, distributed, until finally presented in the table.
The amount is quite surprising. But it could be a reflection that the use of water in agriculture, industry, and private consumption was terkirakan. Another example, serves a cup of tea requires 35 liters of water and present a 1 kg of rice requires 3000 liters of water.
To view and control water consumption, on February 28, 2011 and the Global Water Footprint Standard release a new record. Note that the standard was developed by the Water Footprint Network with 139 partners, scientists from the University of Twente, the Netherlands, as well as NGOs, corporations, and policy makers.
Global Water Footprint Standards provide consistency in measuring the amount of water used and its impact. Leader Water Footprint Network, Jim Leape, said that the standard was created when firms in all sectors are aware of the threat of water shortages that could affect its business.
According to the National Freshwater Programme Coordinator WWF Indonesia Agung Tri Rooswiadji, these standards are designed to reduce waste in water consumption. "The amount of clean water is very limited. If we are wasteful, it would reduce the need for other parties too," he said.
According to him, waste water consumption is now common in commercial industry. "The industry is not only manufacturing, but also others, such as agriculture and textiles. If such a direct liquid waste, it also reduces the amount of clean water," he said.
Each industrial commodity he has different water needs. "The biggest one was for example in coffee, palm oil, and cocoa," said Tri. Other sectors, such as the staple food, requires 3000 liters of water to produce 1 kg of rice and 900 liters of water for 1 kg of corn flour.
Efficiency in water use is important to do, especially by the industry. Inefficiency in water use resulting in water shortages could trigger conflict. "That's never happened in 2001-2002 in Lombok. Farmers conflict because of water shortages," he said.
Tri said the industry could begin to implement the Water Footprint Standard. In this standard there is a facility count the amount of water used in the form of the Water Footprint Calculator that can help water efficiency programs.On the other hand, he also stressed the need for government policy. "As long as there is no policy on water efficiency," he said. This policy is expected to spur the industry to implement these standards.
With Global Water Footprint Standard, industry players could monitor water use, particularly reviewing the sectors that wasteful water. Thus, water use efficiency measures were possible in supporting the preservation of water resources.
For individuals, the Global Water Footprint Standard could be a reference to measure the amount of water used in food, washing clothes, and goods purchased.Individuals can switch to products that require less water and noticed that the production process of water conservation.
Water use efficiency is one way to conserve water resources, in addition to preventing contamination of water sources. Currently, the global water quality shows the downward trend that requires radical steps to preserve it.
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