According to the Water Online site[1], millions of Americans
struggle to pay their water bills.
The fashion industry currently uses enough water to
quench the thirst of 110 million people for an entire year[2].
The fashion industry is the second most water-intensive
industry in the world[3], consuming around 79
billion cubic meters of water per year[4].
Around 20% of industrial water pollution globally
comes from the treatment and dyeing of textiles[5].
It takes 2,700 liters of water to make the average
cotton T-shirt and that’s enough drinking water for one person for 900 days[6].
It is estimated that dyeing of textiles consumes 2.4
trillion gallons of water every year. The ratio of water to textile production
is 200 tons to 1 ton in most fabric manufacturing facilities[7].
5.9 trillion liters – The amount of water used each
year for fabric dyeing alone. (World Resources Institute)[8].
According to “Water Online”, San Francisco Officially
Declares Water Shortage Emergency[9].
World Health Organization
WHO
“2.1 BILLION PEOPLE GLOBALLY DO NOT HAVE ACCESS
TO CLEAN, SAFE DRINKING WATER. 3.4 MILLION PEOPLE DIE EACH YEAR FROM SCARCE AND
CONTAMINATED WATER”[10].
Considering above mentioned facts, we are
already facing a serious water crisis !
Can we decrease the amount of water used
for dyeing (200 Liters of water used to dye 1 Kg of fabric)?
YES, WE CAN !
The idea is to digitize
the dyeing process by applying the color on the fabric face-side. The backside
will be free from colorant (No skin contact with hazardous content of the dyes
and chemicals). On the one hand, the dye consumption will be around half and the
water usage will be around 30% out of the conventional process. On the other
hand, the fabric content of the dye to be washed and drained is 50% less than
the conventional process, meaning half hazardous chemicals in the effluent.
The
USA is a typical environment to apply this idea. In this case, Americans will
not struggle anymore to pay their water bills. Let’s do a simple calculation
about a dyeing mill dyeing 10,000 kg of fabrics and compare water consumption
between the conventional and the digitized process:
|
Fabric in Kg |
Conventional process water Consumption
in Liters |
Digitized process Water Consumption in
Liters |
Difference in Liters SAVING |
|
10,000 |
2,000,000 |
600,000 |
1,400,000 |
|
For 100 dyeing mills |
200,000,000 |
6,000,000 |
140,000,000 |
5.5 billion people are either having no access to
clean drinking water or die from scarce and contaminated water, 5.9 trillion
liters[11] can be decreased to 1.8
trillion liters and the rest,
(SAVING)
4.1 TRILLION LITERS OF CLEAN
WATER
I think it is worth to be discussed thinking of how
many lives we can save.
[1] https://www.wateronline.com/doc/millions-of-americans-struggle-to-pay-their-water-bills-here-s-how-a-national-water-aid-program-could-work-0001?vm_tId=2360891&vm_nId=68743&user=9857bd9c-31f7-487c-9f00-91ee34dacf67&gdpr=0&vm_alias=Millions%20Of%20Americans%20Struggle%20To%20Pay%20Their%20Water%20Bills%20%26amp;%238212;%20Here%26amp;%238217;s%20How%20A%20National%20Water%20Aid%20Program%20Could%20Work&utm_source=mkt_WOL&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=WOL_12-07-2021&utm_term=9857bd9c-31f7-487c-9f00-91ee34dacf67&utm_content=Millions%20Of%20Americans%20Struggle%20To%20Pay%20Their%20Water%20Bills%20%26amp;%238212;%20Here%26amp;%238217;s%20How%20A%20National%20Water%20Aid%20Program%20Could%20Work&mkt_tok=MDc1LU5WQy0wODYAAAGBM5RbcaTzqNo4tUVTbRpsA7qN6vz6mi4fixjlna11X2pogI9Hfctsfnd9gNxpIexnagjs1xG7dVZ1A4EgDPBIUkCZGvpFf1DFACTNipsy5CoFag
[2] Global
Fashion Agenda (2017) Pulse of the Fashion Industry Report
[3] Smarter
Business. The Top 5 Industries That Consume the Most Water.
https://smarterbusiness.co.uk/blogs/the-top-5-industries-that-consume-the-most-water/
[4] Global
Fashion Agenda and The Boston Consulting Group (2017). Pulse of the Fashion
Industry Report.
http://globalfashionagenda.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/Pulse-of-the-Fashion-Industry_2017.pdf
[5] Good
On You. Fashion: The Thirsty Industry.
https://goodonyou.eco/fashion-and-water-the-thirsty-industry/
[6] National
Geographic. How Your T-Shirt Can Make a Difference.
https://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/00000144-0a29-d3cb-a96c-7b2dea6c0000
[7] https://indiantextilejournal.com/articles/FAdetails.asp?id=5991
[8] https://www.theconsciouschallenge.org/ecologicalfootprintbibleoverview/water-clothing
[9] https://www.wateronline.com/doc/san-francisco-officially-declares-water-shortage-emergency-0001?vm_tId=2361808&vm_nId=68759&user=9857bd9c-31f7-487c-9f00-91ee34dacf67&gdpr=0&vm_alias=San%20Francisco%20Officially%20Declares%20Water%20Shortage%20Emergency&utm_source=mkt_WOL&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=WOL_12-09-2021&utm_term=9857bd9c-31f7-487c-9f00-91ee34dacf67&utm_content=San%20Francisco%20Officially%20Declares%20Water%20Shortage%20Emergency&mkt_tok=MDc1LU5WQy0wODYAAAGBPeHc7-vRRDGZrXdUggFwcVXX6OLWrYTvjyDv3sCFRlBAdwbXtip31PTPmX1bObLUtN9iRsLMrRztonyXOaeip_0qjOSHt5NZkwBcb4tqbV3BlQ
[10] https://wholives.org/our-mission/mission/
[11] https://www.theconsciouschallenge.org/ecologicalfootprintbibleoverview/water-clothing
