From Field to Bottle: Water Footprint
Estimation in the Winery Industry
Melody Blythe Johnson and Mehrab Mehrvar
Abstract The Water Footprint (WF) concept allows the quantification of the impact
of the production of a wide range of consumer products on local water resources.
Each stage in the manufacturing and distribution process adds complexity and variability in the WF estimation. It is, therefore, critical to clearly define the scope of
the footprint assessment and any underlying assumptions made. The wine-making
process is a complex mix of agricultural, chemical, sanitizing, bottling and distribution processes, each exerting unique demands on local water resources. While wine
production is recognized as a water-intensive process, clear guidelines for determining the blue, green and grey WF are essential to allowing the benchmarking and
comparison of WF values from location to location. Factors affecting the WF can
include local climate conditions, vineyard irrigation practices, pesticide and fertilizer use, soil quality, proximity to surface and groundwater resources, manufacturing
process efficiency, water reuse practices, and wastewater handling and treatment
methods and performance. Case studies quantifying the WF of wine manufacturing
are available in the published literature; however, the lack of a standardized industrywide WF assessment approach makes benchmarking and comparing the performance
of winery operations difficult. A framework for the assessment of the WF specific to
wine-making is necessary to accurately quantify water resource impacts, benchmark
performance and prioritize the implementation of mitigation measures to reduce
environmental impacts.
Keywords Benchmarking · Framework · Wine production · Wineries · Water
footprint
M. B. Johnson · M. Mehrvar (B)
Department of Chemical Engineering, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, ON
M5B2K3, Canada
e-mail: mmehrvar@ryerson.ca
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
S. S. Muthu (ed.), Water Footprint, Environmental Footprints and Eco-design
of Products and Processes, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4377-1_4
103
Estimation in the Winery Industry
Melody Blythe Johnson and Mehrab Mehrvar
Abstract The Water Footprint (WF) concept allows the quantification of the impact
of the production of a wide range of consumer products on local water resources.
Each stage in the manufacturing and distribution process adds complexity and variability in the WF estimation. It is, therefore, critical to clearly define the scope of
the footprint assessment and any underlying assumptions made. The wine-making
process is a complex mix of agricultural, chemical, sanitizing, bottling and distribution processes, each exerting unique demands on local water resources. While wine
production is recognized as a water-intensive process, clear guidelines for determining the blue, green and grey WF are essential to allowing the benchmarking and
comparison of WF values from location to location. Factors affecting the WF can
include local climate conditions, vineyard irrigation practices, pesticide and fertilizer use, soil quality, proximity to surface and groundwater resources, manufacturing
process efficiency, water reuse practices, and wastewater handling and treatment
methods and performance. Case studies quantifying the WF of wine manufacturing
are available in the published literature; however, the lack of a standardized industrywide WF assessment approach makes benchmarking and comparing the performance
of winery operations difficult. A framework for the assessment of the WF specific to
wine-making is necessary to accurately quantify water resource impacts, benchmark
performance and prioritize the implementation of mitigation measures to reduce
environmental impacts.
Keywords Benchmarking · Framework · Wine production · Wineries · Water
footprint
M. B. Johnson · M. Mehrvar (B)
Department of Chemical Engineering, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, ON
M5B2K3, Canada
e-mail: mmehrvar@ryerson.ca
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer
Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2021
S. S. Muthu (ed.), Water Footprint, Environmental Footprints and Eco-design
of Products and Processes, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-33-4377-1_4
103