GreenGraffiti's Water Footprint

What’s your “water footprint?” During a time when we hear a lot about carbon offsets, I am hearing more and more about companies offsetting their water usage as well. One such company is GreenGraffiti®, an environmentally friendly form of outdoor advertising. According to its website, GreenGraffitti® “is one of the first companies in the world to compensate for our water footprint and contributes in a unique way to a healthier environment.” Of course, water is a big part of the GreenGraffiti process—with the help of a template and high pressure water sprayer, the company places advertising messages via the cleaned out dirt on sidewalks. For each liter of water they use to produce an expression, they invest in a water harvesting project that provides one liter of clean drinking water in the semi-arid region of Northeastern Brazil.

The program, Green Ads Blue Water Neutrality, is based on three pillars: Reduction, Compensation and Communication. “We reduce our water consumption by the awareness-raising program, we compensate our consumption by investing in a Brazilian water project and we openly inspire others to do the same,” the company states. Here’s how it works:

• GreenGraffiti® works with an NGO partner—a Brazilian rainwater-harvesting organization called AS-PTA
• AS-PTA installs rainwater tanks in the water-scarce regions of Northeastern Brazil. They also train local families how to construct, maintain and manage the tanks—allowing families to manage their own drinking supplies. One tank holds approximately 16,000 liters of water—this is enough for a family of five to use for six to eight months.
• A general rule of thumb in rainwater harvesting is that creating one liter of water costs approximately 10 euro cents. GreenGraffiti® uses approximately ten liters of water per expression (ad); therefore, they are investing 1 euro per expression to provide 10 liters of drinking water.

There is more to this program than just providing clean water. The construction and maintenance of the water tanks creates new jobs and the increase access to clean drinking water stimulates health & safety. In addition, once the tanks are installed women and children no longer have to spend hours a day fetching water. Children can go to school and women can even start generating their own income—this ensures future growth and success of the community overall.

Want to know what your own “water footprint” is? There’s a great calculator on Waterfootprint.org which shows you the total amount of freshwater that is used to produce the goods and services consumed by an individual as a result of his or her own consumption patterns and country of residence. The site also gives additional information on Corporate Water Footprints.

Be sure to visit GreenGraffit® during the New Product Showcase at Good And Green®-The Green Marketing Conference, November 17 & 18, at the Chicago Cultural Center. Other brands participating as Showcase Sponsors include: Bee Leaf Bags, Capital Cups, The SOAP Group, The Shelton Group, Scott Naturals, Mr. Ellie Poo, The Clorox Company, GreenGiftz.com and Parducci.