Assessing the polyolefin water footprint [PE]

Equitable and sustainable management of water resources is a major global challenge.
About one third of the world’s population lives in countries with moderate to high water stress, resulting in a disproportionately high impact on the poor. Based on the currently projected human population growth, industrial development and the expansion of irrigated agriculture in the next two decades, water demand will rise to levels that will make the task of providing water for human sustenance more difficult. (UNEP).
By 2025 large parts of the world will face serious to extreme water scarcity. In Southern Europe alone the availability of freshwater will decrease by 25 to 50 per cent over the period 2000-2070. (Gerbens-Leenes / Hoekstra 2008; 9)

Until recently, very little thought has been put into the science and practice of water management related to water consumption and pollution along the entire production and supply chains. As a result, there is little awareness of the fact that the organisation and characteristics of a production and supply chain does strongly influence the volumes of water consumption and pollution that can be associated with a final consumer product (Hoekstra A.Y., Chapagain et al, 2009; 7)