Water
Water in Agriculture

With agriculture set to use 19% more water by 2050, food and drink companies must take action now

Burgess COMMENTARY

Peter Burgess

With agriculture set to use 19% more water by 2050, food and drink companies must take action now

The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) is calling for coordinated action to reduce the amount of hidden water used in food and drink production. agriculture

This is estimated at up to 1.8 million litres per person every year equivalent to an Olympic size swimming pool.

Each person consumes between 2,000-5,000 litres of water embedded in their food, every day – or between 730,000-1,825,000 million litres annually.

Currently, around 90% of all freshwater is used by agriculture (70%) and industry (20%), leaving just 10% for domestic use.

However, as the population grows and more people move to a western-style diet, water extraction is estimated to increase by over 50% to 6,900 billion m3 a year.

By 2050, the overall impact will see around two thirds of the world’s population living in ‘water scare’ areas, compared to just 7% at present.

“Chemical engineers provide many of the high level skills needed to provide the water, food, medicines and energy to sustain our ever-growing population,” said Andy Furlong, IChemE’s director of policy. “In recent years and decades, we have seen how difficult it has been to agree and set targets to manage issues like climate change.

“Population growth will throw up similar challenges and will have a direct impact on two of the building blocks for life – food and water.

“Estimates suggest that we will need to produce 60% more food by 2050. Agriculture will need around 19% more water to produce that extra food.

“It is clear that current production methods are unsustainable and there are genuine risks of food shortages, rising food prices, droughts and social unrest for future generations unless we make more efficient use of water.

“There are solutions, but these will require political will, major investment and lifestyle changes. Chemical engineers are recommending that a global target is set to reduce the amount of water used in food production worldwide by 20%.

“In addition, a combination of regulations and incentives should be introduced to require industry to monitor their water usage, as well as be rewarded for using alternative and sustainable water supplies.

“Revised planning frameworks and investment will be needed for the construction of new capacity, infrastructure and appropriate technologies to improve efficiency of water management in food and drink production.

“Education also has a role to ensure that consumers understand better how their food is produced to enable them to make informed choices.

“None of this will be cheap or easy, but like the mitigation of climate change, it will be necessary to guarantee our quality of life.”

A full analysis of the hidden water footprint in food and IChemE’s recommendations are contained in a new policy report produced by IChemE called, ‘Water Management in the Food and Drink Industry’.

Chris Stanley • Best Foot Forward • 9 Jan Reply As some people have said, Water is the new Carbon. We need to take it at least as seriously as global warming and climate change to avoid a global crisis that could, like climate change, hit those countries hardest which have the least capability to cope.

The challenge is that water cannot be easily normalised to a single unit in the same way as we have CO2 equivalents. There are impacts from water consumption from available rainfall and aquifers, and from water contamination and discharge of polluted water to the environment. Various attempts have been made to classify this water (The IChemE paper uses 6 types) but these all have their limitations, and reliable data is scarce.

There is now a new ISO standard for water footprinting ISO 14046.which we have been trialling with a major international drinks company. This has been useful in developing insights into where the biggest impacts are and which the main opportunities for reduction across the whole supply and value chain.

I would be happy to share our experience, and assist any organisations who want to fully understand and address their water footprint.