Quantifying the Army Supply Chain Water Bootprint
Abstract
Water is highly likely to become a focus of future competition and conflict sparked by increased demand and dwindling availability. Projected climate changes will likely exacerbate water scarcity in high-risk areas. Army policy does not address supply chain or indirect water use, and, suppliers and most of industry do not track their own indirect water use or water used to manufacture products. The Army undertook this water bootprint study as an initial step toward quantifying the amount of water used by suppliers to produce the goods and services it procures through the supply chain. A primary concern driving the study is that timely provision of critical goods and services could be at risk if water-intensive production lines suffered unforeseen water shortages. To calculate the water bootprint for the supply chain, the authors applied water-use factors to known quantities of purchased fuels and utility energy, and a high-level economic model that estimates water use per million dollars of activity by market sector to the remaining supply chain components. The latter includes data from requisition and acquisition databases, local purchases, and military and civil works construction and, international and interagency support provided by the US Army Corps of Engineers. The study findings will help the Army make supply-side policy decisions before water availability issues can adversely affect critical supplies and services, thus hindering operational readiness and training.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Dec 01, 2011
- Accession Number
- ADA568006
Entities
People
- Christopher P. Werle
- Francis J. Reilly Jr.
- John K. Ruffing
- Julia A. Kalloz
- Keith A. Herrmann
- Kristie Siroonian
- Mark T. Gross
Organizations
- LMI