ISO water footprinting standard moves forward

Consultation has ended on the second draft of ISO 14046, the new standard for water footprinting

ISO 14046 specifies the principles, requirements and guidelines related to evaluating the amount of water used throughout a product, process or organisation’s lifecycle.

The standard will provide requirements and guidance for calculating and reporting a water footprint as either a standalone assessment, where only the impacts relating to water are considered, or as part of a wider environmental assessment.

ISO is expected to publish the standard and its accompanying technical report, which provides example methodologies, at the end of the year.

Business standards body BSI advises that organisations should continue to use ISO 14001 to manage water consumption and supply until 14046 becomes available.