IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/spr/waterr/v26y2012i3p733-749.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Towards Quantification of the Water Footprint of Paper: A First Estimate of its Consumptive Component

Author

Listed:
  • P. Oel
  • A. Hoekstra

Abstract

For a hardcopy of this article, printed in the Netherlands, an estimated 100 l of water have been used. Most of the water is required in the forestry stage, due to evapotranspiration (green and blue water). In addition, the water footprint during the industrial stage, as accounted for in this study, consists of evaporation from water obtained from ground water and surface water (blue water). In this study estimates are made of water requirements for producing paper using different types of wood and in different parts of the world. The water footprint of printing and writing paper is estimated to be between 300 and 2600 m 3 /t (~2-13 l for an A4 sheet). These estimates account for paper recovery rates in different countries. This study indicates that by using recovered paper for the production of paper the global average water footprint of paper is only 60% of what it would be if no recovered paper would be used at all. Further savings may be achieved by increasing the recovery percentages worldwide. In addition, the global water footprint of paper can be reduced by choosing production sites and wood types that are more water-efficient. The results of this study suggest that the use of recovered paper may be particularly effective in reducing water footprints. This study is a first step towards a better understanding of the significance of the water footprint of paper and the effect of using recovered paper. Copyright The Author(s) 2012

Suggested Citation

  • P. Oel & A. Hoekstra, 2012. "Towards Quantification of the Water Footprint of Paper: A First Estimate of its Consumptive Component," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(3), pages 733-749, February.
    • Handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:26:y:2012:i:3:p:733-749
    DOI: 10.1007/s11269-011-9942-7
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: http://hdl.handle.net/10.1007/s11269-011-9942-7
    Download Restriction: Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.1007/s11269-011-9942-7?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    As the access to this document is restricted, you may want to search for a different version of it.

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Pilar Montesinos & Emilio Camacho & Blanca Campos & Juan Rodríguez-Díaz, 2011. "Analysis of Virtual Irrigation Water. Application to Water Resources Management in a Mediterranean River Basin," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(6), pages 1635-1651, April.
    2. Esther Velázquez & Cristina Madrid & María Beltrán, 2011. "Rethinking the Concepts of Virtual Water and Water Footprint in Relation to the Production–Consumption Binomial and the Water–Energy Nexus," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(2), pages 743-761, January.
    3. A. Ercin & Maite Aldaya & Arjen Hoekstra, 2011. "Corporate Water Footprint Accounting and Impact Assessment: The Case of the Water Footprint of a Sugar-Containing Carbonated Beverage," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(2), pages 721-741, January.
    4. van Oel, P.R. & Mekonnen, M.M. & Hoekstra, A.Y., 2009. "The external water footprint of the Netherlands: Geographically-explicit quantification and impact assessment," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 69(1), pages 82-92, November.
    5. Maite Aldaya & Pedro Martínez-Santos & M. Llamas, 2010. "Incorporating the Water Footprint and Virtual Water into Policy: Reflections from the Mancha Occidental Region, Spain," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 24(5), pages 941-958, March.
    6. Hoekstra, A.Y., 2009. "Human appropriation of natural capital: A comparison of ecological footprint and water footprint analysis," Ecological Economics, Elsevier, vol. 68(7), pages 1963-1974, May.
    7. A. Hoekstra & A. Chapagain, 2007. "Water footprints of nations: Water use by people as a function of their consumption pattern," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 21(1), pages 35-48, January.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. de Castro-Pardo, Mónica & Cabello, José Manuel & Martín, José María & Ruiz, Francisco, 2023. "A multi reference point based index to assess and monitor European water policies from a sustainability approach," Socio-Economic Planning Sciences, Elsevier, vol. 89(C).
    2. Vanham, D., 2016. "Does the water footprint concept provide relevant information to address the water–food–energy–ecosystem nexus?," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 17(C), pages 298-307.
    3. Arjen Y. Hoekstra, 2017. "Water Footprint Assessment: Evolvement of a New Research Field," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 31(10), pages 3061-3081, August.
    4. Ma, Xiaotian & Shen, Xiaoxu & Qi, Congcong & Ye, Liping & Yang, Donglu & Hong, Jinglan, 2018. "Energy and carbon coupled water footprint analysis for Kraft wood pulp paper production," Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews, Elsevier, vol. 96(C), pages 253-261.
    5. D’Amato, D. & Li, N. & Rekola, M. & Toppinen, A. & Lu, F-F., 2015. "Linking forest ecosystem services to corporate sustainability disclosure: A conceptual analysis," Ecosystem Services, Elsevier, vol. 14(C), pages 170-178.
    6. Randy A. Becker, 2016. "Water Use and Conservation in Manufacturing: Evidence from U.S. Microdata," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 30(12), pages 4185-4200, September.
    7. Vasanthakumar Bhat, 2015. "Water and Its Effect on Business Productivity: A Cross-Country Analysis," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(11), pages 4007-4020, September.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Arjen Y. Hoekstra, 2017. "Water Footprint Assessment: Evolvement of a New Research Field," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 31(10), pages 3061-3081, August.
    2. S. Sun & P. Wu & Y. Wang & X. Zhao, 2013. "Temporal Variability of Water Footprint for Maize Production: The Case of Beijing from 1978 to 2008," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(7), pages 2447-2463, May.
    3. María Jesús Beltrán & Esther Velázquez, 2011. "Del metabolismo social al metabolismo hídrico," Documentos de Trabajo de la Asociación de Economía Ecológica en España 01_2011, Asociación de Economía Ecológica en España.
    4. Han-Shen Chen, 2015. "Using Water Footprints for Examining the Sustainable Development of Science Parks," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 7(5), pages 1-21, May.
    5. Liqiang Ge & Gaodi Xie & Caixia Zhang & Shimei Li & Yue Qi & Shuyan Cao & Tingting He, 2011. "An Evaluation of China’s Water Footprint," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 25(10), pages 2633-2647, August.
    6. José Sánchez & Juan Reca & Juan Martínez, 2015. "Water Productivity in a Mediterranean Semi-Arid Greenhouse District," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 29(14), pages 5395-5411, November.
    7. Xinchun Cao & Pute Wu & Yubao Wang & Xining Zhao, 2014. "Water Footprint of Grain Product in Irrigated Farmland of China," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 28(8), pages 2213-2227, June.
    8. Taleb Abu-Sharar & Emad Al-Karablieh & Munther Haddadin, 2012. "Role of Virtual Water in Optimizing Water Resources Management in Jordan," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(14), pages 3977-3993, November.
    9. Cornelis Leeuwen & Jos Frijns & Annemarie Wezel & Frans Ven, 2012. "City Blueprints: 24 Indicators to Assess the Sustainability of the Urban Water Cycle," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 26(8), pages 2177-2197, June.
    10. Gawel, Erik & Bernsen, Kristina, 2011. "What is wrong with virtual water trading?," UFZ Discussion Papers 1/2011, Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Division of Social Sciences (ÖKUS).
    11. Jared B. Fitzgerald & Daniel Auerbach, 2016. "The Political Economy of the Water Footprint: A Cross-National Analysis of Ecologically Unequal Exchange," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 8(12), pages 1-16, December.
    12. Okadera, Tomohiro & Geng, Yong & Fujita, Tsuyoshi & Dong, Huijuan & Liu, Zhu & Yoshida, Noboru & Kanazawa, Takaaki, 2015. "Evaluating the water footprint of the energy supply of Liaoning Province, China: A regional input–output analysis approach," Energy Policy, Elsevier, vol. 78(C), pages 148-157.
    13. Yu Zhang & Qing Tian & Huan Hu & Miao Yu, 2019. "Water Footprint of Food Consumption by Chinese Residents," IJERPH, MDPI, vol. 16(20), pages 1-15, October.
    14. Castellanos, M.T. & Cartagena, M.C. & Requejo, M.I. & Arce, A. & Cabello, M.J. & Ribas, F. & Tarquis, A.M., 2016. "Agronomic concepts in water footprint assessment: A case of study in a fertirrigated melon crop under semiarid conditions," Agricultural Water Management, Elsevier, vol. 170(C), pages 81-90.
    15. Gino Sturla & Lorenzo Ciulla & Benedetto Rocchi, 2022. "Italy's Volumetric, Scarce and Social-scarce water footprint: a Hydro Economic Input-Output Analysis," Working Papers - Economics wp2022_17.rdf, Universita' degli Studi di Firenze, Dipartimento di Scienze per l'Economia e l'Impresa.
    16. Sangam Shrestha & Vishnu Pandey & Chawalit Chanamai & Debapi Ghosh, 2013. "Green, Blue and Grey Water Footprints of Primary Crops Production in Nepal," Water Resources Management: An International Journal, Published for the European Water Resources Association (EWRA), Springer;European Water Resources Association (EWRA), vol. 27(15), pages 5223-5243, December.
    17. Thomas Wiedmann & John Barrett, 2010. "A Review of the Ecological Footprint Indicator—Perceptions and Methods," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 2(6), pages 1-49, June.
    18. Lingling Zhang & Rui Zhang & Zongzhi Wang & Fan Yang, 2020. "Spatial Heterogeneity of the Impact Factors on Gray Water Footprint Intensity in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(3), pages 1-21, January.
    19. Fabien Martinez, 2015. "A Three-Dimensional Conceptual Framework of Corporate Water Responsibility," Post-Print hal-02887624, HAL.
    20. Maria J. Beltrán & Esther Velázquez, 2015. "The Political Ecology of Virtual Water in Southern Spain," International Journal of Urban and Regional Research, Wiley Blackwell, vol. 39(5), pages 1020-1036, September.

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:spr:waterr:v:26:y:2012:i:3:p:733-749. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: Sonal Shukla or Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing (email available below). General contact details of provider: http://www.springer.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.