| Leahy, D., & Tanner, N. (2022, March 29). Why is it critical to see the hidden
water in clothing. Worldwildlife.org. Retrieved August 28, 2022, from https://www.worldwildlife.org/blogs/sustainability-works/posts/ why-it-is-critical-to-see-the-hidden-water-in-clothing |
Textile industries are heavily reliant on fresh water and are the most consumptive. The industry uses 79 to 93 billion cubic meters of water per year to produce textile made products. Cotton, the most common textile, uses huge amounts of water. Fresh water is needed to grow cotton and in its manufacturing process as well as finishing the final garment. This is true for many other textiles as well. Companies like Ralph Lauren are trying to work against this amount of consumption by avoiding high water stress areas and making a water footprint map.
The insane amount of water used through textile industry production is important because water is the most fundamental source on earth. It is often taken for granted greatly and people dont understand how much we must conserve ground and surface water that is readily available to us. The textile industry affects this because of how much water they pollute through microfiber runoff in washing machines during production, dye pollutants, and overall consumption. Industries like this sometimes send certain areas where there is a high water stress into vicious droughts. This affects all parts of that ecosystem and living organisms because they all require freshwater to live. I think that companies in the textile industry could collaborate and think of ways to cut down on water consumption. This is extremely important because there’s absolutely no way the earth can support itself if its freshwater natural resource is depleted completely.
I agree that fresh water is a vital resource for our planet and we need to be using it more wisely. I also believe that there needs to be an alternative to the materials used in the textile industry that require so much water. Also, why do materials like cotton and other materials take so much water to make clothes?
Great question! Cotton needs a huge amount of water to produce and process mostly because of the crops high demand for it to grow as well as the poor irrigation systems for it.
I think it’s shocking with just how much water we use for textiles. Are there efficient methods in development to reduce water usage? From a business standpoint, it would make sense, as the less water yo use, the less cost you have to make the product.
A way to use less water is recycling cotton products, and using dye process more efficiently because they also use a mass amount of water.