July 8, 2008

How big is your water footprint?  Mine is about 820,000 litres
per year according to the quick calculator at
www.waterfootprint.org.

That doesn't include the water I use around the house for
washing and irrigating.  It's the water hidden in products I
consume.

My morning cup of coffee requires more than a cup of water
to make.  When the water required to grow and process the
coffee is included, it adds up to 140 litres. A kilogram of
beef requires 22,000 litres.  My shirt used 713 litres of
water to assemble.  It's easy to see how it adds up.

That's a lot of water I didn't know I was using.  It's about
three times the amount of water I know I'm using.  This
embedded water, called "virtual water," sloshes around the
globe in the products we buy.  Unseen rivers carry water
along trade routes.

Researchers have mapped the flow of virtual water along
these unseen rivers from source to destination.  Canada
exports more virtual water than we import.  So does the U.S.
and Australia.  Others have a trade surplus of virtual
water, such as China, Russia, Mexico and Brazil.

Some places can afford the exportation of virtual water but
others can't.  Potatoes grown in the Fraser Valley (109
litres/kg.) aren't depleting scarce water as much as
Broccoli grown in California (195 litres/kg.); not because
Broccoli uses that much more water but because California is
running out of water and they may not be able to sustain
their current level of agriculture.

The exportation of virtual water is a vital consideration as
shifting weather patterns bring drought to some parts of our
planet.  Canadians are well aware of the threat to our water
supply as entrepreneurs try to sell it to our thirsty
neighbours to the south.  However, few are aware that we
already export water in Canadian products or that Americans
are clamoring for water at the same time that they are net
exporters.

Food and products should be thought of as value-added water.
In the same way that B.C. should be not be exporting raw
logs, we should not be exporting raw water.  Instead, we
should be exporting value-added wood products and
value-added water products.

Each country must make wise trade decisions based on the
flow of virtual water.  The U.S. must decide whether
exportation of virtual water is in their best interests.
Americans must decide if it's a good idea to export virtual
water when large sections of the U.S. are drying up.  For
example, is it a good idea for the U.S. government to
subsidize American farmers to grow cotton that is sucking up
dwindling aquifers and rivers? Especially when that cotton
could be grown in countries that have surplus water?

"One-third of the water in the United States is exported as
virtual water when a number of major water systems are in
catastrophic decline," says Maude Barlow, cofounder of Blue
Planet Project, "People may rightly ask, 'Why are we
shipping our water away?'"

Canadians have to ask if we are getting good value for the
virtual water we export.  Alberta's oil sands consume use as
much water daily as the city of Calgary and leave it so
polluted that it can't be reused.  Does oil from bitumen
represent wise stewardship of water when our prairies are
drying up?

Other countries, such as Australia, must come to grips with
devastating drought.  Like the U.S. and Canada, Australia is
a net exporter of virtual water.  Unlike Canada, Australia
can't afford the water deficit.  Australia is the driest
continent on Earth.  It is facing a severe shortage of water
in all of its major cities. ''Annual rainfall is declining;
salinity and desertification are spreading rapidly; rivers
are being drained at an unsustainable rate; and more than
one-quarter of all surface water management areas now exceed
sustainable limits," warns Barlow.

We need to remind the U.S. when they come looking for water
that they should get their own water deficit under control
first.  If we decide that we have surplus water, then we
need to carefully consider how we want it exported as
value-added water products.

As individuals, we need to consider yet another factor when
buying groceries.  Just when you thought food choices were
difficult enough - - deciphering labels for calories, fat,
salt, sugar - - now there is the embedded virtual water to
consider.
 

David Charbonneau is the owner of Trio Technical.
He can be reached at dcharbonneau13@shaw.ca

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