Water Neutral offset calculator

Making your Trip to Southern Africa "Water Neutral".

Step one is to consult the "Calorie calculator" to the right to refine your daily calory requirement based on your age, sex and chosen life style.

Once you have done that, move to the items below and complete the form to define your total water footprint of your stay in Southern Africa (m3) as well as the total Water Neutral compensation for your water footprint of stay in Southern Africa (US$).

Please read the notes for both the calorie calculator and the Water Neutral offset calculator if you are unsure about anything.

Water Neutral offset calculator

Trip duration:
How long are you going to stay in Southern Africa?
	Days

Food:
What does your menu look like?
		Parameters	Water Use		Unit Cost	Total
		Factor / Unit	Qty (L) /	Type	US$c/Litre	CostUS$c
	No meat & modest cereal consumption	Litre/Day
	No meat & high cereal consumption	Litre/Day
	Low meat consumption, primarily chicken, pork or other	Litre/Day
	Low meat consumption, primarily beef	Litre/Day
	High meat consumption, primarily chicken, pork or other	Litre/Day
	High meat consumption, primarily beef	Litre/Day

Drink:
What do you drink every day (on average)?
		Parameters	Water Use		Unit Cost	Total
		Factor / Unit	Qty (L) /	Type	US$c/Litre	CostUS$c
	Glasses of plain water	Litre/Glass
	Cups of tea	Litre/Glass
	Glasses of coffee, milk, chocolate milk	Litre/Glass
	Glasses of juices	Litre/Glass
	Glasses of alcoholic drinks	Litre/Glass

Direct water use:
On a weekly basis, how often do you
		Parameters	Water Use		Unit Cost	Total
		Factor / Unit	Qty (L) /	Type	US$c/Litre	CostUS$c
	Shower per week	Litre/Time
	Bath per week	Litre/Time
	Swim in a pool per week	Litre/Time
	Wash sets of clothes per week	Litre/Time

Indirect water use:
What is your accomodation type?
		Parameters	Water Use		Unit Cost	Total
		Factor / Unit	Qty (L) /	Type	US$c/Litre	CostUS$c
	Star hotel/guest house	Litre/Time
Subtotal Indirect water use

Results:
Total water footprint of your stay in Southern Africa (m3)
Total water neutral compensation for your water footprint of stay in Southern Africa (US$)

Donations: Where to from here?

I would like to balance my water footprint, but would like to round it up to SelectUS$150US$75US$50US$20US$10 The money raised will be channeled to our water offset projects.

Note:

• The option you choose should be based on your preferences while on travel, not on your preferences back at home.
• Although the volume of water use per activity is highly location specific, we have generalised by assuming it to be constant over Southern Africa.
• The cost of water use in agriculture is taken equal to the average cost of water supply in irrigation in Southern Africa.
• The cost of domestic water use is taken equal to the average cost of drinking water supply in Southern Africa.
  • A = Water use in agriculture sector
  • B = Water use from drinking water supplies
• The final result fo your choice is highly sensitive towards your selection and less on the location you are travelling to. Thus, one can expect a water footprint of similar magnitude if similar consumption pattern is adopted elsewhere in the world.
• Indirect water use implicitly takes into account the different forms of water uses to meet the standards of a hotel or a guest house. For example, it includes, the flushing technology adopted in toilets, general cleaning of the hotel, water use in the gardens, use of other water intensive products, washing facilities of cars etc.