17.4 Clean water as a natural resource
Only approximately 1 % of planet Earth's total water is fresh water. Water is absolutely vital for living organisms: humans, for example, can survive for only approximately three days without it. Clean water is one of the most important natural resources in the world.
When measuring national water supplies, Finland is revealed to be one of the richest nations on Earth. The high amount of rainfall and the cool Finnish climate help to store water into the nation's lakes, rivers and groundwater.
There is enough water for everything we need here in Finland. On global standards, the Finnish water quality is excellent. Finnish water systems provide high-quality tapwater to all corners of the nation, be it groundwater (used by 46 % of Finns), artificial groundwater (19 %) or surface water (35 %). The people of the Greater Helsinki region use water from Lake Päijänne, which is transported to the capital region through a tunnel that is over 200 kilometers long.
| bathing and hygiene | 60 liters (39 %) |
| WC | 40 liters (26 %) |
| laundry | 20 liters (13 %) |
| kitchen water | 35 liters (22 %) |
The amount of water used by individual Finns covers only a fraction of the nation's total water use. In addition to the tapwater we use at home, we also use a lot of hidden water. This water has been used during the production and transport of the goods that we use in our daily lives.
When we count up all the water we use during a year, we can gain a better picture of the average water use of Finns. The result is an average individual water consumption of 3 874 liters of water per day, or a yearly consumption of 1 414 m³ per person. Approximately half (47 %) of this consumption comes from places outside Finland.
| Product | Water consumption |
| a cup of coffee | 240 liters |
| 1 kg of oranges | 460 liters |
| 1 kg of cheese | 5 000 liters |
| 1 kg of potato | 250 liters |
| 1 kg of rice | 3 400 liters |
| 1 kg of chocolate | 24 000 liters |
| 1kg of chicken | 3 900 liters |
Approximately 82 % of the total Finnish water consumption comes from the production and consumption of agricultural goods. Approximately 15 % of the total water consumption comes from industrial consumer goods, and the final 3 % comes from households.
The water consumption that takes place during a product's life cycle is called the product's water footprint.