WATER

The water indicator expresses the potential environmental impacts resulting from the use of fresh water and takes into account the water directly consumed and polluted in the vineyard and in the cellar for the production of wine. It can be referred both to the company as a whole and to a single 0.75 l bottle of wine.

The overall water footprint is composed of two indicators:

• Direct Water Scarcity Footprint: it is a measure of the potential water scarcity due to the direct consumption of volumes of fresh water, superficial or underground water, actually consumed in the field and in the cellar that do not return downstream of the production process in the same collection point or return there in a different time span;

• Non-Comprehesive Direct Water Degradation Footprint: represents the volume of polluted water, quantified as the volume of water needed to dilute pollutants so that the quality of the water remains above the defined quality standards (legal and/or ecotoxicological).

The use of the two indicators allows us to investigate how vitiviniculture affects the degradation of water resources both from a quantitative and qualitative point of view.

The main standard taken as a reference is the UNI EN ISO 14046 and the impacts are evaluated on the basis of the methodologies proposed by the WULCA (working group on Water Use LCA) and by the Water Footprint Network.

CONTACT:  Daniele D’Ammaro