Water footprint of university students in the semi-arid region of northeastern Brazil - DOI: 10.7127/rbai.v1801320

Resumo

The water footprint deals with the accumulated and polluted water content resulting from the production of goods and services from which human being benefits. Due to its diversity, the university environment is composed of students that differ regarding parameters such as age, income, and, consequently, different eating habits. From this perspective, this study aimed to analyze the water footprint of students of the Interdisciplinary Bachelor's Degree in Science and Technology at the Federal Rural University of the Semi-arid Region (UFERSA) – Campus Mossoró/RN. The method used consisted of the application of semi-structured questionnaires adapted from the personal-extended Water Footprint calculator of the Water Footprint Network platform, where the data obtained from the questionnaires, collected as a sample source for convenience, were also inserted. The data collected included personal water consumption, food consumption, and water use within the domestic environment. In order to obtain the water footprint of the respondents, the value of the individual annual income was used together with the data on food consumption and domestic use of water, resulting in 1,664 m³/year for the total sample of university students, this value being higher than the annual worldwide per capita average and lower than the annual per capita average for Brazil.