Volume of water used in the manufacture of a 100g chocolate bar (1,430 litres) - Sketch for Friends of the Earth
Water supports life on our planet. We depend on it. We also make increasing demands on water resources to produce food, crops, energy and other commodities. It is also a scarce resource is many parts of the world where people suffer from droughts or lack of accessible fresh water.
World Water Week, now in its twenty-fifth year, is being hosted by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) to draw attention to the need for careful stewardship. This year the theme is ‘water for development’.
Governments, companies and other organisations are increasingly developing policies and practices that reflect their own concerns and responsibilities and those of influential stakeholders. Water supplies have often been taken for granted but recently corporate reporting on water use has been encouraged and enabled by third parties such as CDP and Trucost. Efficiencies and savings are being achieved and water is increasingly becoming valued and quantified as an asset in corporate reporting.
Volumetric visuals can help to draw attention to water use and, by providing a sense of scale, make more meaningful kinds of numbers that otherwise remain the domain of specialists. Whether it is All the water in the world, a sketch showing daily use in a school or country, or the water used to generate a US dollar of GDP visuals can turn abstract data into a powerful connection with this essential for life.
