Water has always been crucial to human societies and attempts to treat it and provide a healthy and usable resource go back to ancient Greek and Roman times.

Water is essential for human life. Around 60% of an adult human body is water and we need to consume it to remain healthy.

It is not a secret that the fashion industry is a water intensive activity, but have we ever thought of it as being the second most polluting industry? Indeed, the water use of one single cotton t-shirt uses as much water as any of us would need during three years, 2700 litres[1]. The challenge begins with our closets, we all have more than one cotton t-shirt.

Today’s society is characterized by being dynamic and fast-paced and the more we move towards the future, the more goods and resources we consume. Since water is present in the lifecycle of any products we consume, our footprint is growing bigger every year.

About 71% of our world is covered with water, most of which is saline (97%) or frozen in ice sheets & glaciers (2%), only the remaining 1% being fresh water.
How is it possible that in a water-rich planet, humanity is struggling with water crisis? Water accessibility and availability are major drivers of the water crisis.

Small in size, densely populated and very urbanized, Belgium is a country with a high level of water usage that impacts on the water supplies of other countries when water used to produce imported goods is taken into account. This short article takes a look at how much water Belgium consumes compared to other nations, where that water goes and what can be done to reduce water use in Belgium.