LCA Food 2012 in Saint Malo, France! - Manifestations et colloques ...

PARALLEL SESSION 1A: WATER FOOTPRINT 8 th Int. Conference on LCA in the
Agri-Food Sector, 1-4 Oct 2012
Water footprint of cradle to farm gate milk production in the U.S.
Lindsay Lessard 1,* , Samuel Vionnet 1 , Jon Dettling 1 , Sebastien Humbert 1 , Andrew Henderson 2 , Olivier
Jolliet 2 , Ying Wang 3
1 Quantis, Parc scientifique de l’EPFL, Bât. D, 1015 Lausanne Switzerland
2 Dept. of Environmental Health Sciences, School of Public Health, University of Michigan, 109 South Observatory, Ann Arbor MI
48109-2029, USA
3 Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, 10255 W. Higgins Road, Ste 900, Rosemont, IL 60018, USA
Corresponding author: E-mail: lindsay.lessard@quantis-intl.com
ABSTRACT
Dairy and agriculture are water intensive activities and water use impacts can vary widely depending on region, crop irrigation and
type of crop. As good quality freshwater is a scarce resource, the objective of this project is to assess the water footprint associated
with U.S. dairy production in order to identify potential ways to reduce water related issues associated with U.S. dairy production.
Considering the increasing competition for water resources from other sectors, there is a demand for agriculture and dairy industries
to improve efficiency of water use, especially irrigation which can account for up to 90% of water withdrawal from available resources.
Keywords: water footprint, water use in LCA, milk, dairy, regionalisation
1. Introduction
The scarcity of freshwater is becoming problematic in certain regions of the world (Pacific Institute,
2012) and this issue is linked to significant problems related to human health, social/political stability and
ecosystems (Ceres, CEO water Mandate (UN Global Compact, 2012)). Dairy and agriculture are water intensive
activities and water use impacts can vary widely depending on region, climate, crop irrigation and type
of crop. Irrigation can account for up to 90% (Save Water, 2012) of water withdrawal from available
sources. Of these irrigation withdrawals, approximately 15% to 35% worldwide are estimated to be unsustainable
(WBCSD, 2012; Siebert et al., 2010a; Wada et al., 2010). As competition for water resources continues
to increase, there is a demand for agriculture and dairy industries to improve efficiency of water use
(FAO, 2012) and especially irrigation.
The objective of this project was to evaluate the water related issues associated with U.S. dairy production.
This information is an important stepping stone to identify potential ways to address and reduce water
use and waste in the dairy production sector. This work was commissioned by the Innovation Center for U.S.
Dairy and completed by a consortium of institutions with expertise in dairy and water topics (Quantis, University
of Michigan, CIRAIG, University of Arkansas).
So far most studies assume that all animal feed is produced locally. In practice, feed production and dairy
farming take place in different areas. Therefore, there is a need for these two processes to be related in a consistent
way in order to better understand water use and impacts. The main research challenges for the water
footprint can be summarized by the following questions:
- What are the key steps that dominate the milk life cycle impact on water?
- How do water impacts of feed irrigation vary spatially?
- How can we relate spatial feed impacts to water impacts of milk production in different areas?
- What is the magnitude of impact per kg milk at state and national levels?
To address these needs, this study aims at determining the U.S. water footprint of milk with the following
specific objectives:
(1) Identify the key factors influencing the water impacts of cradle to farm gate milk production.
(2) Investigate in detail the regional impacts associated with feed crop irrigation and their variation nationwide.
(3) Relate feed and milk production locations and determine state and national impacts of milk production.
2. Methods
2.1. Description of methodology and framework
Building upon work in progress within the UNEP-SETAC Life Cycle Initiative on water footprinting 2 , a
framework has been developed which integrates a comprehensive state-of-the-science compilation of meth-
2 Water footprint refers to the impact assessment of water use and not the water footprint definition of the Water Footprint Network.
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