a b s t r a c t
This paper introduces a new methodological approach of the ecological footprint explicitly addressing
the sustainability of water supplies, which we call the water supply footprint (WSF). The WSF calculates
the catchment area or water supply hinterland of a certain society and can serve as a strategic planning
tool for local or regional water supplies linking the water demand with the water supply in a water
supply footprint matrix. Based on regional water balances it estimates how much water can be appropriated
for human use in an environmentally sustainable way.
The proposed method is tested on the South East Queensland water supply in Australia, an area where
water use restrictions are regularly imposed on the population. Applying the proposed method indicates
that supply shortages may be avoided by considerably changing the organisation of water supply,
thereby reducing and possibly even avoiding the necessity for large-scale supply side measures like
additional sweet water reservoirs or desalination plants. In that way it is demonstrated