As David Suzuki Foundation points out…

Shorter showers, repairing dripping faucets, turning the tap off while brushing your teeth—these are all great ways to conserve water; but are they enough? What about the water used to produce a pound of beef, a pair of blue jeans or even a just a cup of coffee? A recent report, Water Neutral: Reducing and Offsetting the Impacts of Water Footprints, defines water footprints as “an indicator of water use that looks at both direct and indirect water use.” This means that your cup of coffee actually took around 140 liters of water when you trace back to the growth of the coffee plant.

Becoming water neutral is much like being carbon netural. One reduces their footprint as much as possible and then offsets the negative externalities of their remaining footprint. To learn more about your water footprint visit the Water Footprint Network. Don’t forget to calculate your footprint with the footprint calculator!