HONG KONG, China -- Most people by now will be familiar with the term 'carbon footprint' and may even have calculated it themselves, but how many are familiar with their 'water footprint'?





Professor Arjen Y. Hoekstra, the creator of the 'water footprint' concept.





It's about time we all learned what it is, says Professor Arjen Y. Hoekstra, Professor in Multidisciplinary Water Management at the University of Twente in the Netherlands, as soon it will be influencing how we live our lives.





Hoekstra created the water footprint concept in 2002 when he was undertaking research on what is known as virtual water trade flows for the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education.





CNN finds out what it is and why it's important.





CNN: So, what is a water footprint?





Hoekstra: It relates to how much water is being used to make a product, but it also refers to where that water is being used and when that water is being used. This is about the water use in different parts of the world to make products for businesses and individuals, so this enables an impact assessment and a formulation of policy to improve the water sustainability of these products.





CNN: What can businesses or individuals do to save on water?





Hoekstra: Businesses or individuals can become "water neutral" by reducing the effects of their water footprints. They can have incentives for that, because once they are water neutral they can market that and consumers may like that so there are other mechanisms there.





CNN: How would one go about becoming water neutral?





Hoekstra: The water footprint of a business has two components -- the water used during operations and the water used in the supply chain. In order for a product to be sustainable you have to make both operations of the business sustainable as well as the supply chain.





A product from a business is water neutral if the business has made sure that the operations are sound, that the water use has been reduced reasonably as much as possible, and the pollution has been brought to zero, but they also have to do that in their supply chain and they can't do that themselves because it is not their own business.





So, they can only do that by influencing their suppliers or by changing to another supplier. And this is quite something because it means that the whole business sector and all these supply chains have to become much more transparent.





CNN: What business sectors use the most water?





Hoekstra: Agriculture -- 85 percent of the world's water usage is in agriculture, 10 percent is industry and 5 percent is in households. But these sectors are not independent because what we call the industry sector is taking so much stuff from the agricultural sector, so they are connected.





It means that if the industrial sector has to reduce their water footprint it also means they have to look at their supply chain and part of their supply chain is in the agricultural sector. The agricultural sector should become more transparent.





CNN: What can individuals do?





Hoekstra: There are two types of approaches. One is to substitute types of consumption articles for other ones, which take less water -- like going from a meat-based diet to a vegetarian one, which will save a lot of water.





Drinking tea instead of coffee saves a lot of water. Not wearing cotton but wearing artificial fiber saves a lot of water.





But this is probably limited, because people don't shift from meat to vegetarian as they just don't like not to have beef; or they like cotton.





So the different kind of approach is to keep the same kind of consumption pattern but when choosing cotton, or when choosing beef, choose the sound one. If you make things more transparent, by citing the precise impact of a certain article on the water system, through the water footprint, you provide that kind of information and you label it somehow, then consumers within the same category have some choice to go in the better direction.





CNN: What do you think will encourage the take-up of the water footprint
What uses up to 85 percent of the world's freshwater supplies? What uses 85% of the world's fresh water? The agricultural sector uses how much of the world's freshwater supplies? What can individuals do to make a difference? Individuals can make a difference by gauging their own what? In what way can individuals make a difference?
Agriculture agriculture, 85 percent become "water neutral" by reducing the effects of their water footprints. 'water footprint'? reducing the effects of their water footprints.
question: What uses up to 85 percent of the world's freshwater supplies?, answer: Agriculture | question: What uses 85% of the world's fresh water?, answer: agriculture, | question: The agricultural sector uses how much of the world's freshwater supplies?, answer: 85 percent | question: What can individuals do to make a difference?, answer: become "water neutral" by reducing the effects of their water footprints. | question: Individuals can make a difference by gauging their own what?, answer: 'water footprint'? | question: In what way can individuals make a difference?, answer: reducing the effects of their water footprints.