Research question: Is the clothing industry creating water shortages that will affect us and future

societies?

Topic: Sustainable living

Centre Number: CO063

Candidate name: Andrés Herrera

Candidate Number:

Word Count: 1520

Is the clothing industry creating water shortages that will affect us and future societies?

The lack of water is a problem around the world that is affecting everyone. We can see countries
or places in the world that unfortunately have no water or aren’t able to reach by their own
methods, if there is not enough water this will affect agriculture, livestock and industry,
producing food shortages, or different sources shortages. The disappearance of plant and animal
species can occur. This will happen because they do not live without water, if water is scarce,
they die and disappear. The water scarcity has two branches: Economic and physical. Physical
water scarcity is when there is not enough water to cover the previous demands. While the
economic water scarcity is caused by a lack of investment in infrastructure or technology, this has
led to poor management around the clothing industries since this isn’t the main purpose of these
businesses.

This problem has existed for more than 20 years, but in the last few years it has gotten worse
because of climate change. We need 100 liters of water per day to be able to satisfy all our needs.
For example, on a typical school or workday, we require different goods and services to carry out
our activities, Clothing, footwear, food and hygiene, Transport and electricity, computer, cell
phone, books, pencils, etc. To measure the great quality that we consume consider an everyday
example, such as eating a hamburger, to produce a hamburger, 2,400 liters of water are required,
ranging from the raising of the cow, the cultivation of vegetables and grains to produce the bread,
until its transfer to the place where we will consume it. This means that when we eat a
hamburger, we are consuming the daily water requirement of 24 people. Water usage is divided
into three different columns domestic, agricultural and industrial, but the industrial column has
been affecting the other two since this one of the most sections that consumes mor water.

In the clothing industry the water is used extremely high. For example, cotton is used in 33% of
global textile production, and with just one pair of jeans and 1 t-shirt comprising 1 kilogram I is
required 10,000 liters of water. Textile dyeing and the finishing of the raw material of the raw
fiber is both a waste and polluter. Processing a kilogram of fiber, not just cotton, consumes
around 100 and 150 liters. The fashion industry is currently using enough water to quench the
thirst of 110 million people for an entire year. Additionally, most of the rivers and water sources
are being contaminated, even though this is a problem that has existed for so long nothing has
been done. Water pollution kills over 500,000 people around the world due to diseases caused by
the substances in the water. Clothing industries should spread awareness on what is being done in
the different water sources and how they are going to keep it away from people, also they should
have new alternatives for the material that use more water.

In Colombia the water management hasn’t been as good as it should be. Colombian people have
contaminated it until in some of the water resources it is impossible to even touch it. This country
must try to invest more in the water plants, since 352 municipalities have scarcity of it. Nearly
60% of the home’s water isn’t in the correct condition of purification. This is why Colombia
should start implementing the plan that was supposed to improve water conditions. The
investment until 2017 was almost 3 billion pesos and less than 1,400 infrastructure projects that
still it didn’t present an improvement in the totality. This is why different actions should be taken
in the future so that there are no more problems related to water scarcity that will affect us all,
and even more if the garment industries are not kept under control to avoid more crises in the rest
of the world.

The volume of water consumed by the fashion industry in 2017 was nearly 79 billion cubic
meters, enough to fill 32 million Olympic-sized swimming pools. In addition to this 20% of water
waste is created by the fashion industry. This shows that we will continue to consume and buy
more and more clothes in the future, which is only creating more water problems. In addition,
stores like H&M that keep prices low on clothes are proving that their clothes are not of a quality
that will last long enough, this will make the customer buy more and even more continuously. It
cannot be forgotten that the UN is in constant search of a sustainable life, and as it has been
mentioned before water is a completely necessary factor in order to reach this sustainability, so if
in the future water problems increase it is possible that not all people will be able to access it and
then they will have to look for solutions for this. So, if 20% of the water is being wasted,
something should be done to decrease this and avoid more serious problems.

Colombia and more countries in the world should start to realize that water is a finite resource
and that if it is not used in the right way and special care is not kept, it is very likely to affect
future generations, just as much as reducing the production of many things and simply reducing
and almost stopping the use of water. Water is used for bleaching, dyeing, finishing, softening,
cultivating, spinning within this industry. Companies in countries with little potable water should
try to implement new technologies that help to make better use of water and improve water
production. Saitex has implemented these ideas, and water scarcity and pollution problems are
decreasing thanks to the development of innovative water-efficient dyeing and finishing
processes. Technological advances such as laser finishing, nanobubble washing and ozone
treatment are responsible for the fact that this problem within the company has become an
example to follow for other companies seeking to implement similar ideas.

Speaking in more global terms, the oceans are affected by microplastics coming out of these
factories, and this is not the only problem there are more, but this is one of the most relevant for
the people knowledge. There is more than one company that can change their way of production
and thus help the environment, but this would only increase production prices making their cost
per garment even more expensive and even many people will stop buying there for this reason.
For people who are always looking for different clothes and need to be buying and getting new
things there is the possibility of buying second hand clothes, it is normal that some people get
tired of using something or they just do not use it anymore, then they could sell it to someone
who wants it or needs it, and this same person who just sold can get something that will use more
often and this becomes a cycle among most people, in this way companies will have to reduce
their production leading them to have fewer products to be bought from them just to enter the
second hand market. If costs are increased in order to help the environment and they have to
produce less, the objective is met.

But it is not only important for industries to reduce the use of water, people should also start to be
aware so that everyone can help each other. People should start to be aware that not everyone has
access to water as some do, so every time they use it they should use it correctly. Take shorter
baths, turn off the faucet while doing other things, fix leaks, rinse dishes properly, use the
washing machine with the maximum load, so you use less, do not throw away water that you
could drink, water the plants at night, reduce electricity consumption, etc.. These are small
actions that each person could start to take in order to reduce the consumption of water so that the
majority of people can receive the same proportion of it, and not that in the future people with
more money have the opportunity to consume more and those who have less have to look for
other solutions just because it has become a privilege and not a human need. In countries like
Colombia, for each cubic meter of water is 13, 433 pesos, so those who consume more are those
who pay more, what happens in places with scarce resources is that the water that is consumed
does not come from containers of drinking water, it comes from contaminated water creating
diseases that endanger the lives of citizens.

In conclusion, it can be said that the world has to take measures to counteract the serious
consequences that would be affecting the water and possible societies near aquatic resources. in
addition to this, fashion industry companies will have to create action plans in order to have
better options and conditions in the future to help improve the environment and reduce water
pollution.