The water footprint of textiles processing

Water Footprint of Textiles Tool

Welcome to the Water Footprint of Textiles Tool! This Tool helps you calculate the water footprint of fibre processing through a few simple questions. Let’s begin.

General Questions

How would you characterize your company?

Spinning

Weaving

Knitting

Finishing 🛈Finishing refers to all process steps that occur after pre- treatment, such as Dyeing, Printing and Textile Finishing. You can further specify specific Finishing process steps in a later question.

Non-woven from textile waste

Clothing manufacturer

What kind of fibers do you process?

Cellulosic (natural & man-made)

Protein (natural & man-made)

Synthetic

How much of Cellulosic do you process (kg/year)?

How much of Protein do you process (kg/year)?

How much of Synthetic do you process (kg/year)?

Please select your processing steps for Cellulosic fibers.

Desizing 🛈 Desizing refers to the removal of natural impurities and singeing compounds.

Scouring 🛈 After desizing, the fibers may still contain e.g. grease, lubricants, antistatic agents, waxes. Scouring removes such impurities.

Bleaching 🛈 Bleaching refers to the process of decolorization of raw textile material through removal of inherent and or acquired coloring components from the fiber.

Mercerizing 🛈 Mercerizing refers to the process in which textiles are treated with a caustic solution to improve the fiber’s tensile strength, luster, and dye affinity.

Dyeing 🛈 Dyeing refers to adsorption of dyes from an aqueous solution onto the fibre surface and the diffusion of these dyes into the fibre.

Printing 🛈 Printing refers to the decoration of textile fabrics by application of pigments, dyes, or other related materials in the form of patterns.

Finishing 🛈 Finishing refers to the processes that convert the woven or knitted cloth into a usable material. Finishing can also be understood as any process performed after dyeing the yarn or fabric to improve the look, performance, or feel of the finish textile or clothing.

Please select your processing steps for Protein fibers.

Scouring 🛈 After desizing, the fibers may still contain e.g. grease, lubricants, antistatic agents, waxes. Scouring removes such impurities.

Carbonizing 🛈 Carbonizing is a continuous process which combines scouring to remove grease and a chemical process to remove organic matter such as seeds, burs and grass. Carbonizing entails the fabric being immersed in acid, for it then to be neutralized by a solution of alkali.

Rinsing 🛈 Rinsing refers to the removal of any residual chemicals after carbonizing.

BleachingBleaching refers to the process of decolorization of raw textile material through removal of inherent and or acquired coloring components from the fiber.

Dyeing 🛈 Dyeing refers to adsorption of dyes from an aqueous solution onto the fibre surface and the diffusion of these dyes into the fibre.

Please select your processing steps for Synthetic fibers.

Scouring 🛈 After desizing, the fibers may still contain e.g. grease, lubricants, antistatic agents, waxes. Scouring removes such impurities.

Dyeing 🛈 Dyeing refers to adsorption of dyes from an aqueous solution onto the fibre surface and the diffusion of these dyes into the fibre.

Printing 🛈 Printing refers to the decoration of textile fabrics by application of pigments, dyes, or other related materials in the form of patterns.

Water Use and Blue Water Footprint

The following questions will help you calculate your water use and your blue water footprint. Although often used interchangeably, water use and water consumption are two different indicators that are both relevant to understand.

Water use refers to gross volumes of water, such as the (metered) intake from taps or wells. Water consumption refers to net volumes of water (water that does not or cannot be returned to the water system) and can be calculated by subtracting water discharge from water intake. Water consumption is measured by the blue water footprint.

The blue water footprint gives a more accurate measure of the appropriation of fresh water by a user such as a textile processor.

Do you know your water use?

Yes, at the level of each processing step

Yes, at the level of my entire operations (e.g. factory)

Please enter water use per processing step for Cellulosic fibers (m³ /year)

Water use for Desizing

Water use for Scouring

Water use for Bleaching

Water use for Mercerizing

Water use for Dyeing

Water use for Printing

Water use for Finishing

Please enter water use per processing step for Protein fibers (m³ /year)

Water use for Scouring

Water use for Carbonizing

Water use for Rinsing

Water use for Bleaching

Water use for Dyeing

Please enter water use per processing step for Synthetic fibers (m³ /year)

Water use for Scouring

Water use for Dyeing

Water use for Printing

Water use for Finishing

Please enter water use of your entire operations (m³ /year)

Water use for Cellulosic

Water use for Protein

Water use for Synthetic

Do you know your water consumption?

Yes, at the level of each processing step

Yes, at the level of my entire operations (e.g. factory)

Please enter water consumption per processing step for Cellulosic fibers (m³ /year)

Water consumption for Desizing

Water consumption for Scouring

Water consumption for Bleaching

Water consumption for Mercerizing

Water consumption for Dyeing

Water consumption for Printing

Water consumption for Finishing

Please enter water consumption per processing step for Protein fibers (m³ /year)

Water consumption for Scouring

Water consumption for Carbonizing

Water consumption for Rinsing

Water consumption for Bleaching

Water consumption for Dyeing

Please enter water consumption per processing step for Synthetic fibers (m³ /year)

Water consumption for Scouring

Water consumption for Dyeing

Water consumption for Printing

Water consumption for Finishing

Please enter water consumption of your entire operations (m³ /year)

Water consumption for Cellulosic

Water consumption for Protein

Water consumption for Synthetic

Grey Water Footprint

A water footprint also includes a pollution component, the grey water footprint. The grey water footprint of a product is an indicator of freshwater pollution but it is NOT the same as wastewater. It is calculated as the volume of freshwater that is required to dilute pollutants to such an extent that the quality of the water remains above ambient water quality standards. In other words, it estimates the amount of clean freshwater necessary to dilute pollutants from untreated or poorly treated wastewater. The following questions will help calculate your grey water footprint.

Do you know the volume of the effluent of your operations (m³ /year)?

Yes

Please enter the volume of the effluent of your operations (m³ /year)

Do you know the concentrations of pollutants in your effluent?

Yes

Please enter the concentrations per pollutant in your effluent (mg/L)

COD

BOD5

TSS

Ammonium nitrate

Total phosphorus

Total chromium

Cadmium

Nickel

Lead

Zinc

Copper

Sulfide

Total phenols

Pentabromodiphenyl ether (pentaBDE)

Octobromodiphenyl ether (ocotBDE)

If you do not have concentrations for all substances, leave that box empty.

Thank you for completing the questions in this water footprint tool. The results will show after submitting the data.