Water Impact

Water impact refers to the environmental, social and economic effects that result from human activities that use or pollute water resources. It goes beyond measuring how much water is consumed (as in a water footprint) and also considers changes in water quality, the availability of water for ecosystems, aquatic habitats and fairness in access to water.

Dimensions of water impact

• Quantitative: excessive withdrawal of blue water that lowers river flows and groundwater levels.
• Qualitative: discharges of pollutants that degrade water quality, captured by the grey water footprint.
• Ecological: loss of aquatic biodiversity, habitat alteration and disruption of river connectivity.
• Social: water-related conflict, displacement and public-health effects.
• Economic: higher treatment costs, production disruption and agricultural losses during drought.

How water impact is assessed

• ISO 14046: the life-cycle assessment standard that quantifies potential impacts such as scarcity, quality degradation and aquatic toxicity.
• The AWARE method, which weights water consumption by the water remaining in each region.
• The Aqueduct Water Risk Atlas (WRI) for mapping basin-level water risk.

Key indicators

• Water stress: the ratio of withdrawals to renewable availability.
• Blue water scarcity: scarcity of surface water and groundwater at basin scale.
• Water quality indices based on parameters such as biochemical oxygen demand, nutrients and metals.

Mitigation strategies

• Efficiency and reuse in industrial and agricultural water use.
• Pollution prevention, replacing hazardous substances and improving wastewater treatment.
• Ecosystem restoration of wetlands, riverbanks and ecological corridors.
• Integrated basin management with stakeholder participation and sustainable withdrawal limits.

Assessing water impact gives a holistic view of how activities affect the water cycle, and supports management that protects water resources, ecosystems and communities while building resilience to future scarcity and pollution. At Manglai we help companies measure their water and carbon footprint and prepare their sustainability reporting. Discover how Manglai can help you.