Water Management Tool of Industrial Products: A case study of screen printing fabric and digital printing fabric

Water scarcity and pollution have become increasingly serious because of industrial production. Thus, a tool should be developed to evaluate the level of water use of industrial production. Several calculation methods for water use relative to water footprint have been developed by many scholars. However, most of these methods still have defects in terms of indicators, parameters, and calculation methods. In this paper, we established an evaluation tool that is suitable for the current production situation of industrial products, i.e., a water management tool of industrial products that includes two parts: direct water use caused by the production process of industrial products and indirect water use caused by the energy and material used during production. Each part contains three indicators: water withdrawal, water consumption, and water assimilation. We applied the tool in the textile and apparel industry to calculate the water use of screen and digital printing fabrics, as well as the production processes for both printing fabrics. Results show that the tool can highlight the water intensive product and production process, which can help enterprises take effective and specific measures to save water and reduce pollution.