标准2025清洁水对生命至关重要，是我们最宝贵的资源之一，但40％的世界人口的用水却无法得到保障。同时，人类也是我们自己最大的敌人，因为80％以上的社会产生的废水会流回生态系统中，既不被处理也不再循环利用。
这个问题已得到广泛认可，这就是为什么联合国若干可持续发展目标中都突出了水的重要性，政府和企业在限制用水方面也面临着越来越大的压力。而为了达到目标，首先必须要有能衡量的指标。
新出台的ISO手册《ISO 14046环境管理——水足迹——中小企业实用指南》是与ITC合作编写的，旨在帮助各种组织，特别是中小企业更好地理解标准，并最大限度地发挥标准的效益。
手册共同作者塞巴斯蒂安.汉伯特（Sebastien Humbert）说，与诸如碳足迹的其他方法相比，水足迹是相对新颖的类型，它有着不计其数的方法论，其导致的结果也不一。
“在来自60多个国家，20个非政府组织的成千上万的贡献者的参与下，ISO 14046用公共语言为所有利益相关方提供了国际共识，并提供了框架，让组织自行衡量其用水造成的环境影响。”
“本手册有助于各组织通过使用ISO 14046准备和进行水足迹评估，不仅通过对主要条款进行实际指导，也支持开放性的解释。”
New handbook helps SMEs best manage water use
Clean water is vital to life and one of our most precious resources, yet around 40% of the world’s population doesn’t have enough. At the same time, we are our own worst enemy as over 80% of wastewater generated by society flows back into the ecosystem neither treated nor reused.
The issue is widely recognized, which is why water features heavily in several of the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals, and governments and businesses are facing increasing pressure to limit their water use. In order to do this, however, they must first be able to measure it.
A new ISO handbook, ISO 14046 Environmental management- Water footprint – A practical guide for SMEs, developed in partnership with ITC, has just been published to help all kinds of organizations, in particular SMEs, better understand the standard and maximize the benefits that it offers.
Handbook co-author Sebastien Humbert said water footprinting is a relatively new type of assessment compared to others such as carbon footprinting and there are numerous methodologies with varying results.
“Having been developed with the involvement of thousands of contributors from around 60 countries and 20 non-governmental organizations, ISO 14046 provides international consensus on a common language for all interested parties, and provides a framework to measure the environmental impacts resulting from their water use.”
“This handbook helps organizations prepare for and undertake a water footprint assessment using ISO 14046, through practical guidance on not only the main clauses, but also those most open to interpretation.”