Millenium (Sep 2017)
Education as a tool to reduce the water footprint of young people
Abstract
Introduction: Due to the global changes, fresh water became scarce in many geographical realities. In this domain, education can play a significant role, contributing to the sustainable water management. Objectives: Estimate the Water Footprint (WF) of young people, including their direct and indirect water uses. Develop an educational application that aims to exemplify measures which lead to water conservation in their daily activities. Methods: Two questionnaires. The first one was formulated in order to estimate the average WF of a young person, and the second one to establish the basis of the educational application. Samples included 82 students in the 12 – 15 age range. Results: The average WF of a student is 3223±830 L/day. The total indirect water use is over 10 times higher than direct use. Food accounts for the major part (84.4 %) of young person’s WF, and in the second place of indirect uses is clothing-related WF (6.4 %). Among analysed food groups, meat has the largest contribution (39.6 %) to the total personal WF. For both genders, high direct water use (264 L/day) is due in large part to long showers. Conclusions: Young people consume too much fresh water, what suggests the need to improve their behaviour in terms of eating habits, clothing and shower duration.
