Water footprint in the context of sustainability assessment. Report on the application of life cycle based indicators of water consumption in the context of integrated sustainability impact analysis

摘要

Sustainability science explores the interactions between human activities on the Earth’s life support systems. Unless we understand these interactions, we will not be able to design a path towards sustainable development. In this report we focus our attention on water as key resource for human health and ecosystem health and as archetypal resource for which sustainability assessment is needed in order to preserve quality and quantity of the resource for present and future generations. A holistic approach to sustainability assessment of water requires different methodologies able to capture the magnitude of socio-economic drivers related to water consumption: both from production sectors (such as industries and agriculture) and from consumers (domestic use, consumption pattern). The present report aims at presenting different methodologies for depicting sustainability of water use in a life cycle thinking perspective.