On average, lhe women dress daily in clothes made with a water consumption of up to 11,000 liters, 3,000 liters less than that of the garments worn by an adolescent or an adult man. This has been calculated by researchers from the Water Observatory of the Botín Foundation and the Textile Technological Institute (aitex), of Alicante, with the collaboration of several clothing manufacturers. Analyzing the inventories of processes and consumptions and the discharge data of the manufacturers, in addition to their respective specific techniques to reduce the consumption of blue water (that which is taken from the network and is fed by rivers, lakes and aquifers), they have achieved measure the so-called“water footprint” of tissue production.
The water footprint consists of an indicator that evaluates the direct and indirect water consumption of a product and its impact on water quality. The one called“green” water footprintreflects the consumptions associated with soil moisture and rainfall, the“blue”evaluates the consumption taken from rivers, lakes and aquifers and the“Grey”measures the impact on water quality, comparing the pollutant load with the respective environmental standards.
In particular, the cost of water in the textile sector depends to a great extent on the raw material. Both cotton produced in the Guadalquivir valley and Lyocell, a material made with cellulose pulp, were used for the work. The presence of artificial fibers such as polyamide and polyester in clothing was also taken into account. The data reveals thata “type” cotton pants requires 3,117 liters of water, while to make one with Lyocell only 688 are used. According to the study authors, cotton fabrics have a higher blue and gray water footprint, because they require abundant irrigation and produce a lot of residual water. In contrast, fabrics that use natural Lyocell fiber have a high green water footprint.
As examples, the Water Observatory and its partners determined that leather shoes carry a water footprint of 4,400 liters, a men’s suit made of fiber mix supports 5,500 liters, and men’s and youth underwear and socks 1,000 liters. A woman’s underwear and stockings, if synthetic processing is used, require only 0.4 liters of water.
